Kyle Lowry signed a one-day contract on Tuesday to retire as a Toronto Raptor. Lowry spent nine seasons with the Raptors and was a key piece of their 2019 NBA championship team.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
In one sense, Kyle Lowry’s career with the Toronto Raptors can be boiled down to simple numbers. One NBA championship. Six NBA all-star nods. Nine seasons in the Six.
But those numbers – and many others – barely scratch the surface of a player, and a man, who ultimately came to define what it was to be a Toronto Raptor, setting the standards for a franchise that many of the current roster are trying to live up to.
As someone who sat courtside for each of the 601 regular-season games and 84 playoff contests that Lowry played for Toronto, team play-by-play voice Matt Devlin has seen almost all of Lowry’s career-defining moments, a career that ended Tuesday when he signed a one-day deal to retire as a Raptor.
He remembers the point guard missing what would have been a championship-clinching three-pointer in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA finals, only to return three nights later with a 21-point first-half salvo to set the Raptors on course for the title.
The highlights from Lowry’s retirement press conference
But Devlin also recalls his tireless unseen work to build team chemistry, such as when Lowry and DeMar DeRozan took rookies Norman Powell and Delon Wright to buy clothes in Boston, picking up the tab for their outfits. Or taking the entire team to his family home in his native Philadelphia for dinner on a road trip to play the 76ers.
“The thing that Kyle has always done are the things away from the court to really build that camaraderie, and that’s team dinners, team functions, gifting players gifts when you make the postseason, and all those little things to signify his appreciation,” Devlin said.
“He just did all those little things, because he knew how important that was ultimately to winning.”
In many ways, winning is what will define Lowry’s Toronto legacy. For a franchise that had never had a 50-win season before he arrived and just one playoff series win, the 2012 arrival of Lowry in a trade with the Houston Rockets signified a turning point. With the 6-foot point guard on board, Toronto had five straight 50-win campaigns, winning nine playoff series – including four in that 2019 championship run.
Raptors general manager Bobby Webster introduced Lowry at the team’s OVO Athletic Centre as the “greatest Raptor of all time,” before revealing that Lowry’s No. 7 jersey number will be retired next season, putting his name up in the Scotiabank Arena rafters alongside Vince Carter’s No. 15 and the championship banner Lowry helped earn.
Lowry had his press conference interrupted by former Raptor Vince Carter, who FaceTimed Lowry to offer his congratulations on his retirement.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
But equally central to his legacy is the fierce competitive spirit that Lowry brought to the court every night. With Lowry willing to take charges to draw an offensive foul, or dive fearlessly for loose balls, Toronto was able to find its way back from series deficits against both Philadelphia and Milwaukee in its championship run.
Devlin added that former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said that “he never coached a greater competitor than Kyle Lowry.” And even though Lowry left Toronto in 2021 to join the Miami Heat, and eventually his hometown 76ers, his will to win is still part of the organization’s DNA.
“You think about all the charges that he took that changed the course of a game and the trajectory of a game and his ability to guard in the post. All those things really signify what it’s about to be a Raptor,” Devlin said.
Tuesday was also a coming together of the team’s past, present and – almost certainly – its future. Lowry’s press conference was interrupted by a FaceTime call from Carter, the only other former Raptor to have his jersey retired.
“I had to cut you off,” Carter told Lowry, who was in the process of answering a question. “Congratulations, man.”
Meanwhile, sitting front row in the crowd was Kawhi Leonard – the 2019 finals MVP – who is reportedly negotiating a contract extension after being traded back to Toronto last week. While the team hasn’t said anything official about either transaction, Lowry took it upon himself to do the talking on their behalf.
“That’s my guy,” Lowry said. “You all know ‘Whi is a special person, he’s a special basketball player and I appreciate him even coming. …
“I think the moves that Bobby is making and what he’s doing, they know what they’re going to do, they’re trying to win another championship, and starting with that guy right there, you get him to that point, championship is the only aspiration and that’s why he’s here.”
Kawhi Leonard, left, was present at Lowry's retirement press conference. The 2019 NBA finals MVP is reportedly in the process of negotiating a contract extension with the Raptors.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Leonard wasn’t the only holdover from 2019 in attendance. Less than 24 hours since the sale of his remaining 25 per cent of team owner Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was announced, Larry Tanenbaum was in the front row.
The majority owner of the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo – which welcomed Lowry and his wife Ayahna Cornish-Lowry to its ownership group Tuesday – Tanenbaum was also singled out for praise by Lowry, with the pair sharing warm hugs after the press conference.
“I had a great guy in my corner, in Larry, and I think his support, and his wife, Judy’s support, kind of made it really feel like it was home,” Lowry said.
He also explained the love he felt playing for the only NBA franchise to represent an entire country.
“When you play for Canada’s team, you are somebody all over the world,” Lowry said. “Canadians are special people, and Toronto’s a special city, and it was just only right [to retire as a Raptor].”