Ex-Raptors star Danny Green says bags stolen in Vancouver

A star shooting guard who helped fuel the Toronto Raptors' historic championship run this season says he and his friends had their car broken intoduringa recent trip to Vancouver after leaving their bags on the seatof a carparked on the city's Downtown Eastside.

Danny Green told the story during an episode of his podcast, Inside The Green Room, after visiting the west coast city earlier this month.

The athlete was touringCanada to leadsold-out skills camps for young players after the Raptors won the NBA championship in June.

"Everything was great on the camp tour, but there was one thing that didn't go great. We started off rocky in Vancouver," said Green, 32, who signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

The player said he stayed in ahotel during his tripbut his friends booked an Airbnb on East Hastings Street. His friends didn't like the look of it, with one saying it was "old, raggedy, it feels haunted."

The Downtown Eastside isoften associated with drug use and poverty and, in recent years, the lethal overdose crisis devastating British Columbia. East Hastings Street is the neighbourhood's central thoroughfare.

At one point, Green drove his friends to the Airbnb and they all left the car to look at the suite.

"We go upstairs for 10 minutes, check out a map go back outside and we pretty much got...not robbed of everything, but two bags gone. One of the bags had a lot of stuff in them."

Green said the book bags holding laptops, electronics and cash from campregistration were left on the seats of the car. He was notsure whether the doors werelocked.

Green said he and his friends called police and went searching for the bags around the neighbourhood, but couldn't find their belongings.

Investigator assigned to incident

Sgt. Jason Robillard with the Vancouver police said in a statement Wednesday he was unable to find a report about the circumstances surrounding the alleged theft but have assigned an investigator to look into the incident.

"It's unfortunate Mr. Green had a negative experience in Vancouver. Overall, our city is a safe place to live and visit," Robillard wrote.

The department often runs awareness campaigns urgingdrivers not to leave valuables in the open inside parked cars, with electronic billboards across the city lit up with reminders.The number of auto thefts across the city has risen steadily since 2011, with more than 14,500 reported in 2018.

Green's two-year contract with the Lakers is worth a reported $30 million.