There is no getting around this: We have to talk about the weather. It’s NBA all-star weekend, and Toronto is a great city full of brilliant restaurants and mind-blowing parties and beautiful people, though it’s hard to tell, because if the beautiful people are smart they are wrapped in a great pile of layers so that they don’t get frostbite. It’s cold. There, we said it.

“Yeah, this is bad. Yeah, nobody’s happy about it,” says Detroit Pistons all-star Andre Drummond.

“It’s all we’ve been talking about. The first question is, how are you staying warm?” says Indiana Pacers all-star Paul George.

“It’s worse than New York was last year, and New York was pretty cold. We’re definitely talking about it. It’s freezing here,” says Washington Wizards all-star John Wall.

Yes, they are talking about it. We’re all talking about it. This is Toronto’s moment in the NBA spotlight, an incredible confluence of celebrity and community and glamour, and if you are from Toronto, every conversation with a visitor is like a talk about erectile dysfunction in the movies: You know, I’m so sorry, this never happens, honestly. Saturday morning the temperature at Pearson Airport was measured at minus-26.0C, which was the coldest reading since January 16, 1994. People are soldiering through, but the local representatives are being asked about it.

“Every day,” says Toronto Raptors all-star DeMar DeRozan. “But nobody seems to believe me when I tell them this has been the worst. It’s been great. It’s been a great winter. Until these last couple days. But nobody seems to believe me.”

“I don’t believe him,” says George. “I’ve been here in January, and it was similar to this. When it gets below 10 (Fahrenheit) it all feels the same.”

That’s not strictly true. With the wind chill, it was forecast to reach minus-31C on Saturday night, and that’s about minus-24F, and that is panic cold. That is fumble-with-your-phone-before-your-hands-freeze cold. All-star weekend means parties: There were at least 13 big parties held in downtown Toronto Saturday night, and that usually means people in short skirts and other clubwear lining up outside. That is not advisable.

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“I played here, but I can’t remember it being like this,” says former all-star and former Raptor Tracy McGrady. “Good Lord. For me, when it’s cold like this, I stay my a-- inside. You’ve got to layer up, put them clothes on, and then when you get to the club, you’re hot as hell. I’m not with that.”

Long before this weekend began, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told then Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke that he didn’t want to have to deal with a second straight ice party, not after New York last year. Leiweke told him “Adam, I can control a lot of things, but I can’t control the weather.” It feels like a hilarious cosmic joke that temperatures will be above freezing Monday, the day everybody leaves. We need to tell people. It’s been a mild winter. It’s not always like this.

“Oh?” says Los Angeles Clippers all-star Chris Paul. “I thought it was like this often.”

Oh no. This is our reputation now. Toronto will never snag a superstar NBA player again. We are doomed, doomed. Sorry, Chris Paul. We The North Pole.

“I did not know that, and look, it falls on all-star weekend,” marvelled Paul. “Like, how often does it snow in Dallas? When (the game) was in Dallas (in 2010), there was a snowstorm. And I love Toronto. If you polled all the NBA players, I think it’s probably one of the top two, three NBA cities, as far as guys enjoy coming to. But I still stick that all-star weekend should be in warm locations.”

That’s fine, makes sense, but: wait: a top-two, top-three city?

“Well, I don’t go outside and run or anything like that, I’ll do my workout inside, I’m sure,” says West all-star coach Gregg Popovich. “But Toronto’s a great city. It’s so diverse, the food and wine are both great, the people are friendly. So it doesn’t matter if it’s cold or not.

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What the stars are saying

“I can tell you, we look at the schedule when it comes out, we’re hopeful it’s not a back-to-back, so the night before the Toronto game we can go to dinner. So it’s one of our favourite cities. And usually, you can walk around. So in that sense it’s like New York, it’s like Seattle, it’s like San Francisco, it’s like Chicago, where you can walk around and enjoy the place.”

Do you hear that? Toronto is loved. This will not ruin our reputation in the NBA, probably. Yes, this weekend feels like it’s taking place in Regina. (Forecast Saturday overnight: minus-6C, feels like minus-12.) Hopefully, everything works out.

But we are a beloved city, and things are going fine. The Enercare Centre, the giant fan nerve centre featuring dozens of basketball courts, was packed with families and fans on Saturday, lining up to see NBA stars or just to shoot hoops, and they were as diverse as this great city. The events are proceeding. The parties abide. There is still the game Sunday night, and a wrap for this weekend that was swathed in steam and smiles and fun. You can’t see the smiles, because they’re wrapped behind scarves, probably. But they’re there.