Late Tuesday night as it became clear that Donald Trump was going to be the next president of the United States, Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship website crashed, flooded by Americans looking into the possibility of moving north.
How many of those could play power forward? Were there some high-leverage relievers inquiring?
Could the sudden shift in tone of the political discourse in the U.S. provide some kind of incremental benefit to Toronto-based teams like the Raptors or Blue Jays in recruiting or retaining African-American or Latino athletes, or those otherwise concerned about President Trump’s America?
“Conceptually, it could have traction,” said one prominent NBA agent with a player on the Raptors.
The idea of Canada becoming a safe haven for Americans seeking to flee in the wake of a Trump presidency didn’t escape the eye of Toronto Raptors president and general manager Masai Ujiri, who is always looking for an edge.
He began his remarks at the Sports Media Canada luncheon on Thursday by thanking the U.S. president-elect:
“I want to thank Donald Trump for making Toronto an unbelievable sports destination,” he said.
Like many things he says publicly, Ujiri passed it off with a joking manner, but that doesn’t mean he’s not serious or speaking without thinking.
If you don’t suspect the first thing he did the morning after the election was to begin thinking about how he could turn the sudden change in the U.S. political scene into an advantage, then you are underestimating Ujiri.
His first big public splash while running the Raptors was when he appeared in front of the crowd at Jurassic Park and said “F— Brooklyn” prior to Toronto’s first-round playoff series with the Nets in 2013.
He was playing to the crowd, but to a wider audience too. He was proud of the subsequent text messages he received from players around the league who saw the highlights on ESPN featuring a rabid crowd on a sunny spring afternoon in Toronto cheering an executive willing to take the fight to streets.
Ujiri knows how to make his message heard.
Similarly, making a joke about Toronto suddenly becoming more attractive to free agents and trade targets in front of a room of sports journalists — Ujiri was being recognized as executive of the year — likely wasn’t entirely off-the-cuff and it ricocheted around the basketball media landscape in short order.
The Raptors have always had an image problem or at least the image of having an image problem. Even players who spent long and successful stretches of their career in Toronto often felt like they were in a foreign place. As Chris Bosh said upon arriving in Miami after spending the first seven years of his career in Toronto, one of the things he was happy about returning stateside was that in Canada he “couldn’t get the good cable.”
Antonio Davis lamented his kids being taught the metric system. Then there’s the weather and the taxes.
Fighting those perceptions was high on the agenda of former Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald. His pitch was to emphasize the differences that made Toronto an attractive destination while at the same time proving the differences weren’t significant. It was under his watch, for example, that the Raptors provided players grey market satellite dishes to give them access to U.S. television and figured out how to minimize income tax issues.
“It is a valid point,” Grunwald said via text in reference to Ujiri’s comments. “My old presentation to free agents and draft candidates talked about those Canadian aspects like tolerance (mosaic vs. melting pot), gun control (lower murder rate), diversity (Toronto is the most culturally diverse city in the world) etc.”
After one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in history, current Raptors forward Patrick Patterson sounded like those messages had sunk in, telling Raptors radio play-by-play voice Eric Smith:
“With all of the stuff going on in America it makes you realize and appreciate my circumstances I’ve got right now,” Patterson said. “I’ve been here for a long time. Canada’s a great place — and I’m not just saying that because of circumstances. I’ve always felt that way. It’s less problems and people are a lot more friendly and I’ve always loved Canada.”
Grunwald’s successor, Bryan Colangelo, opted to do a bit of an end-around the perceived resistance of Americans playing in Canada by actively seeking out either European players who were accustomed to different customs or American players who had played in Europe.
Had his tent pole European not been Andrea Bargnani, making the Raptors the most international team in the NBA might have proven a smart way to make Toronto’s point of differentiation a strength.
There’s little doubt that Trump’s campaign messages have been found repugnant in many corners of the NBA, an organization that has always tilted to the blue — Democrat — side of the political spectrum.
“It’s a mockery,” DeMar DeRozan told Smith on Wednesday. “It’s a joke.”
The league’s response to the Donald Sterling scandal and the decision to move the all-star game out of North Carolina due to their so-called “Bathroom Law” being only the two most recent examples.
Some of the most prominent voices in the league are loudly on record as finding Trump’s candidacy and election deeply concerning — Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich among them.
In the case of Kerr and Van Gundy, their post-election comments were inspired by the reaction of their teams, groups of young men — mostly African-American — visibly frustrated that a candidate who ran on a platform of exclusion could become president.
Could Trump’s views on the Latino community have an impact on the Blue Jays’ efforts to re-sign free agents Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion?
Jose Bautista celebrates with Edwin Encarnacion. (Frank Gunn/CP)
The two Dominican-born stars have been unequivocal in their appreciation of Toronto. Could concerns about how life in the U.S. might change under Trump encourage them to consider a different kind of hometown discount?
One sports executive with extensive experience in the Canadian market said he was skeptical that in the end any political developments would impact Toronto teams one way or the other.
“People joke about moving to Canada [after Trump], but it’s not going to affect players,” he said. “Canada does have a different mentality, mindset and Americans will always struggle with that to an extent [but] very few players move to city they play in.
“The city where they play is where they play. Athletes are going to turn the page. It’s a nice story [about Toronto becoming a destination] and it sounds great, but I don’t think it’s going to change a thing.”
As the Blue Jays’ history has proven, when they’re winning and splashing money around, signing and retaining players has rarely been an issue.
The Raptors’ experience is a little bit more uneven, but as a team averaging more than 50 wins a year over the past three seasons, they have already overcome the most significant obstacle as an NBA destination.
“Players always liked it [in Toronto],” said Grunwald. “But winning, salary and role are more important.”
All undoubtedly true. But after years in which playing in Canada was an obstacle local franchises had to overcome, for the first time the fact that they aren’t in the U.S. might be a strength.