Title: Raptors Face Franchise-Defining Decision with Kyle Lowry
Date: May 10, 2017
Original Source: Vice
Synopsis: For my latest at Vice, I wrote about the difficult decision facing both player and team with Raptors free agent Kyle Lowry.
It is perhaps the most interesting free agent decision to ever face the Toronto Raptors. It may be the most important, too. Kyle Lowry, the 31-year-old point guard and three-time All-Star who is one of the chief figures responsible for the longest stretch of sustained success in franchise history, is an unrestricted free agent. He is due an enormous raise. He sounds unsure of whether or not Toronto will be the best fit for him, and the team sounds unsure of retaining him.
This is not Vince Carter demanding a trade, because Lowry has earned his right to test the market. This is not Chris Bosh darting for Miami after a series plagued by injury, despite some of the obvious similarities in situation, because the writing isn’t anywhere near as on the wall, the path for player and team alike both (painfully) obvious. This is not even DeMar DeRozan, the first star to ever stay for a third contract.
“Well I got traded twice already, so,” Lowry said Monday at Raptors locker clean-out day. “One thing about DeMar being drafted by here, he’s never seen anything different, and he wants to be here, and he’s built for that. Me, personally, of course you want to keep growing roots and sprouting more. It’s always something you think about. When you’ve already established yourself somewhere, how can you make yourself grow, how can you get better or do this or that differently?”
