What to know
Raptors guard Gradey Dick says Toronto already feels like home, embracing everything from local restaurants to the city’s unique slang.
The Wichita, Kansas native highlights PAI as his go-to spot and recalls riding on a float at the Toronto Caribbean Carnival as one of his favourite Toronto memories.
Dick credits teammates A.J. Lawson and RJ Barrett with teaching him Toronto slang and helping him settle into the city’s culture.
As the Raptors chase a championship, Dick says the team is motivated by nationwide Canadian support, calling it the best fan base in the league.
Gradey Dick might only be three seasons into his Raptors career, but he’s already embracing everything he loves about Toronto – from the bustling restaurants to the local slang.
The Raptors guard from Wichita, Kansas was selected thirteenth overall in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft. Moving to the city with his family ever since, he tells Now Toronto exclusively that he’s grown to love Toronto, and most importantly, its people.
“I always talk about just the Canadian genuineness of the people, you know, how nice they are,” Dick shared. “Wherever we go, there’s always just people there that are welcoming us with open arms.”
Dick admits he’s far from having explored all that Toronto has to offer, having yet to venture into the city’s east or west ends, and mostly sticking to the downtown core. Even so, his time downtown is well spent, especially sampling the city’s thousands of restaurants. While he brushes off Canada’s national dish of poutine – describing it as just “OK” – Dick says his favourite place to indulge in is Thai eatery PAI.
“That’s probably one of our family’s favorite spots,” he said, adding that he just spent his birthday there recently in late November. “The people there are amazing.”
GRADEY DICK TALKS TORONTO SLANG AND LOVING ‘CARIBANA’
Another part of the city that Dick has grown fond of is the slang. He says he’s picked up a lot from teammates and Toronto natives A.J. Lawson and RJ Barrett, and can now recognize a few key words when he overhears them chatting in the locker room.
“The bares, the two-twos… marved, hungry, stuff like that,” he laughed. “It’s cool. It’s different, obviously, but you know, every place has their uniqueness about them.”
But perhaps his most beloved city staple? Dick says the Toronto Caribbean Carnival ranks among his top experiences, recalling his first year in the city where he got to ride on a float with Adidas and walk amongst locals to the sounds of soca.
“It was amazing,” he said. “It was pretty cool to see all the love in the city, the costumes and just the music… It’s such a vibe. I loved it.”
He joked however that he wouldn’t be wining up his waist anytime soon, or – “no bubbles,” he laughed – explaining that he’s staying a “loyal man” to his longtime girlfriend.
Earlier this year, Dick said in a post-season interview that he was looking forward to attending the annual parade again, which he referred to as its former and most commonly known name ‘Caribana,’ but explained to Now that he hadn’t had the opportunity to return over the last two years due to prior commitments.
As the Raptors push through their season, holding onto third place in the Eastern Conference despite snapping their nine-game winning streak with back-to-back weekend losses, Dick says the team is locked in on doing whatever it takes to lead them to the championship, and thanks fans both in the city and nationwide for riding with them every step of the way.
“We want to win. We want it for the whole country. It’s not just for a state like other NBA teams. We got the whole country behind our back, and I feel like that puts a little more motivation in us,” he said.”
“We have the best support in the league now. We go to some cities, not trying to compare to other teams, but we go to some cities and we see the support that they get. And then, compared to ours, you can’t. It’s amazing here.”