Enter the Raptors, who arrived a decade later as an expansion franchise. Bhatia invested in a pair of season tickets at SkyDome, where the team was playing its home games. The seats were not particularly good. He might as well have been in Quebec. But at least he was in the building. And he was hooked.

At the same time, he was becoming more successful in his professional life. At the car dealership, he went from salesman to manager to general manager to owner, with 145 employees in his organization. All that hard work manifested itself in one vital way: pockets deep enough to afford courtside seats to Raptors games. It was, he said, a life-changing experience.

“I’m an addict of basketball,” said Bhatia, who now has 10 season tickets and likes to share them. “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t womanize. But I Raptorize. That’s it.”

Raptorizing takes many forms. DeRozan was a rookie with the Raptors in 2009 when he met Bhatia. DeRozan was new to the city, so Bhatia offered DeRozan some insight: the neighborhoods, the restaurants, the history of the team. At some point during their conversation, DeRozan casually mentioned that he was looking for a car. The next morning, he awoke to discover a Range Rover parked outside his home. Bhatia wanted DeRozan to borrow the vehicle until he found one of his own.

“Everybody loves Nav,” DeRozan said.

At the Garden last week, Bhatia wore a pass around his neck that indicated he was Knicks Coach Mike Woodson’s invited guest. Their history dates to 2003, when Woodson was an assistant under Larry Brown with the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons were in Toronto for a game that season, and Bhatia was sitting courtside when Woodson left the bench (along with Brown) to argue a call. Bhatia, who was sitting nearby, told Woodson to sit down. Woodson did not appreciate this bit of unsolicited advice and asked Bhatia — in so many words — to clarify himself.

“You heard me,” Bhatia recalled telling Woodson. “Your head coach is talking to the referee. You’re an assistant. That’s very rude of you. No manners for you.”

Woodson glared at Bhatia throughout the game and even afterward, as he left the court. “He looked like he was going to kill me,” Bhatia said. They were not friends. Not yet, anyway.