When Toronto entered the league players were wary because they didn’t know anything about it, but there have been a few generations of players now that loved it (Jalen Rose for example). In terms of entertainment and food culture it’s with the big NBA markets.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Raptors are kings of the city right now. The Leafs winning the Cup will always be the biggest but like NYC the city is over 40% foreign-born and half-visible minority, and the younger diverse generation loves the Raptors.
Winter is cold relative to the west coast and south, but lots of players are from Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc. Toronto’s latitude is barely north of a bunch of NBA cities and south of Minneapolis. It’s not the North Pole.