Toronto Raptors player faces excruciating 6 hour wait after arriving at Pearson Airport
Even NBA stars raking in the big bucks find themselves in the same painful travel situations as us normies, as one Toronto Raptors player experienced this week upon returning to the city.
After a five-hour flight from Los Angeles, Toronto Raptors guard/forward Yuta Watanabe arrived at Pearson International Airport.
What awaited him upon arrival will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the chaotic airport conditions and wait times reported since the resumption of international travel.
Not even professional athletes get preferential treatment at the country's largest international travel hub, forcing Watanabe to wait for a full six hours among the masses before finally leaving the airport.
It takes less time to fly from L.A. to Toronto than it takes getting through Pearson Airport.
Now Watanabe just needs to get stuck on the 401, be transferred from the subway onto a shuttle bus, and be forced out of a bike lane to have the full Toronto experience.
Watanabe wasn't the only player on the team flying commercial. The Raps' prized new addition, #4 draft pick Scottie Barnes, might be the new holder of the very specific title of "most excited ever to board an Air Canada flight."
Barnes had already been making appearances around the city earlier this summer, but now he's back for real.
Other Raptors players had it a bit easier, like early 2021 addition Gary Trent Jr., who appears to have arrived in style via private jet.
Excitement is building for the long-awaited return of the Raptors to Scotiabank Arena. The preseason is just a few weeks away, set to kick off on Oct. 4 when the Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers.
This will be the first Raptors game played on Canadian soil since February 28, 2020, a distant memory that happened 19 months ago.
Yuta Watanabe
