THE FIRST STRIKE in what several legal experts have described as a first-of-its-kind legal war between two NBA teams can be traced back to Aug. 17, 2023.
It came in the form of a letter from the chief legal counsel for the New York Knicks, and it was addressed to Toronto Raptors owner Larry Tanenbaum. It claimed the Knicks had, only days before, uncovered a dastardly conspiracy at the hands of their Atlantic Division rival, situated some 340 miles away.
It was a plot, the two-page letter alleged, centered on potential "illegal activities" involving a former Knicks employee whom the Raptors had recently hired.