TORONTO — The billboard struck my eye immediately. I was returning to Toronto from the States, still a stranger in a new country, a visitor on a work visa who landed a lottery ticket job to co-host alongside the most popular sports-talk host in the country.
This was August 2018. Kawhi Leonard’s legendary bounce-bounce-bounce-bounce-in to beat the Sixers in the Eastern Conference finals on the way to an improbable NBA title was still nine months away. But there it was in the Bathurst and Queens Quay area of downtown Toronto: a massive billboard featuring Kia Nurse in her Team Canada uniform overlooking the Harbourfront Community Center, arguably the most famous pickup basketball court. I snapped a photo and posted it to Twitter. Maybe this is hyperbole upon reflection, but it felt like a moment for women’s basketball, at least in Canada.
Women’s basketball fans: How awesome is this? Kia Nurse in downtown Toronto. pic.twitter.com/CUrjXzkv2A
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 11, 2018
Nearly five years later, I found myself sitting in Section 117 at Scotiabank Arena watching the WNBA’s first game in Canada, a preseason contest between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky. It was a near-full arena — every seat in the upper deck was basically filled for a…
