The Knicks and Raptors have agreed to stop fighting in court, jointly dropping a lawsuit that alleged Toronto used a newly hired video assistant to steal thousands of confidential scouting reports and other proprietary information while he was still employed by New York.

The two sides on Friday agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the same claims cannot be refiled. The dismissal means the lawsuit will no longer be hanging over the NBA when the Raptors play against the Knicks in New York on Nov. 30, the teams’ first on-court clash of the season. The filing contains no additional detail.

“The Knicks and MLSE withdrew their respective claims and the matter is resolved,” Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., which owns the Knicks, said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “The parties are focused on the future.”

The suit dates back to August 2023, when the Knicks sued the Raptors in New York federal court. The suit claimed that video assistant Ikechukwu Azotam—whom Toronto had hired away from New York earlier that month—forwarded information to his new team that was “critical to the Knicks’ efforts to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals,” including scouting reports and information and data from Synergy Sports. It named as defendants Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (the company that owns the Raptors), its head coach Darko Rajaković, and 11 others.

The complaint accused the Raptors of recruiting and using Azotam “to serve as a mole within the Knicks organization to convey information that would assist the Raptors Defendants in trying to manage their team.”

The legal fight became contentious. In November 2023, after the Raptors had filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the Knicks revealed in a court filing that they believed damages would exceed $10 million if the case went to trial. The following month, the Raptors said the matter should be sent to arbitration overseen by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and that they were considering countersuing the Knicks for defamation. A federal judge ruled in June 2024 that the dispute should be sent to arbitration.

It’s rare for NBA teams to sue each other in court since the league has an arbitration process to handle disputes. Amid the suit, Knicks owner James Dolan and the league did not see eye to eye on multiple matters. In November 2023, he resigned from his position on the NBA Board of Governors’ influential advisory, finance, and media committees, saying in a memo to Silver and the league’s other 29 owners: “Given all that has occurred lately, I have come to the conclusion that the NBA neither needs nor wants my opinion.” In May 2024, before the lawsuit had been sent to arbitration, the Knicks were the lone team between the NBA and WNBA to vote against a Toronto expansion franchise for the latter.

The dismissal ends the Knicks’ lawsuit against the Raptors, though it’s unclear whether the broader dispute has been fully resolved behind the scenes. As of March 1, the Knicks and Raptors were continuing to update the court on arbitration proceedings, telling the judge there was a hearing scheduled for July 21. On Oct. 2, the judge ordered the parties to file another status report by no later than Oct. 20, according to the docket. That status report will never come, since the parties have dropped the case.

Attorneys for the Knicks and Raptors did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did a representative for the NBA.

RAJ Sports, owner of the NWSL’s Thorns and WNBA’s Fire, voluntarily withdrew its lawsuit Monday that sought to stop the family behind Panda Express from buying a stake in the Trail Blazers.

The suit alleged the Cherngs, who founded the fast food chain, were part of RAJ’s bid to buy Portland’s NBA team before ditching RAJ to join a competing bid from Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, who ultimately bought the franchise at a more than $4 billion valuation.

The two parties reached a deal out of court, facilitated by Dundon. On Friday, Dundon filed an affidavit saying he didn’t need the Cherngs’ money to buy the team. That deal awaits approval by the NBA Board of Governors and is expected to close by March 2026. 

RAJ Sports, run by siblings Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, sued Andrew and Peggy Cherng in Delaware court Sept. 24, alleging the Cherngs violated an agreement signed July 24, 2025, to work with RAJ on a bid for the Blazers. They continued to work together even after Dundon’s $4.25 billion bid was announced as the winner in August. But when Dundon’s ownership group was announced in mid-September, the Cherngs were listed among the investors—a surprise to RAJ.

The lawsuit sought to stop the Cherngs from joining Dundon’s group, and asked a Delaware judge for a temporary restraining order to do so. A hearing in the case had been scheduled for Wednesday. 

RAJ Sports told a Delaware judge Monday it was withdrawing the case “without prejudice” less than three weeks after the lawsuit was first filed. 

“We are pleased to have reached a resolution out of court which we believe recognizes our position while also preserving the future of basketball in Portland,” a RAJ Sports spokesperson said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “We look forward to working closely with the Trail Blazers as the Fire join them at Moda Center next Spring.”

he withdrawal of this lawsuit comes just days after a different legal matter involving NBA teams was also voluntarily dismissed. The Knicks and Raptors jointly agreed to dismiss a case filed by New York against Toronto. The suit had alleged the Raptors used a newly hired video assistant to steal thousands of confidential scouting reports and other proprietary information while he was still employed by the Knicks.

A spokesperson for Dundon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Suns owner Mat Ishbia countersued two minority owners Tuesday.

The pair of minority owners had accused him of mismanagement and lack of transparency; Ishbia responded that the pair are manufacturing a “contrived legal drama” to try to force him to buy their stakes at inflated terms.

The countersuit from Suns Legacy Holdings LLC—the corporate entity through which Ishbia owns majority stakes in the Suns and WNBA’s Mercury—targets Kisco WC Sports II and Kent Circle Investments, which jointly sued in August for greater access to team financial records. Kisco is led by Andrew Kohlberg, a former professional tennis player who now runs a senior living business and has been a limited partner in the Suns since 2004, while Kent Circle is led by Scott Seldin, who has an Arizona-based real estate business.

Ishbia’s filing reframes their “books and records” case as a bad-faith effort to avoid a recent capital call requesting additional money from limited partners and force an above-market buyout. He says he informed all minority owners of the planned capital call last year, and that each investor “had the opportunity, but not the obligation,” to participate. His complaint was filed in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, the same court in which Kisco and Kent Circle sued Ishbia.

Ishbia bought a reported 57% stake in the Suns and Mercury from Robert Sarver at a $4 billion valuation in 2023. Since then, he has poured additional resources into the teams, he says in his countersuit, including through “bold trades,” the development of a practice facility for the Mercury, and efforts focused on fans—such as introducing a $2 value menu for both NBA and WNBA home games and reaching a new local media-rights agreement to broadcast games for free for at least the next two seasons.

Suns spokesperson Stacey Mitch told Front Office Sports that Ishbia has been clear with minority owners from the start that he would continue to put money into the teams as needed, and that when he took over, each investor had the choice to sell or stay in and invest alongside him.

“Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin want it both ways,” Mitch said. “They don’t want to invest in the teams, but they are demanding a payday significantly higher than what Mat originally offered, which was still over 20x their original investment. That’s not how it works, and we’re confident we’ll prevail in court.”

Kohlberg and Seldin, through Kisco and Kent Circle, also alleged that Ishbia may have cut undisclosed side deals with other partners tied to the capital call—which would be in violation of a clause in the LLC agreement stating all members must be treated equally, according to their suit. The relevant portions of the agreement are cited in the suit but heavily redacted. Ishbia’s suit is also heavily redacted.

Ishbia’s lawsuit seeks to “resolve with finality defendants’ attempt to leverage their manufactured claims for commercial gain,” a “prompt declaration” that the capital call was aboveboard, and any additional relief as deemed appropriate by the court.

Michael Carlinsky of law firm Quinn Emanuel, counsel for Kohlberg and Seldin said in an emailed statement to FOS that “Mr. Ishbia’s so called ‘declaratory judgment lawsuit’ is nothing more than a thinly-disguised effort to thwart our clients’ books and records litigation through delay; it doesn’t actually ‘sue’ anyone. That said, we intend to add our full set of counterclaims for damages arising out of Mr. Ishbia’s gross mismanagement and dereliction of duties and will obtain the evidence that he has been fighting to keep from us.”