NBA : Kyle Lowry will bow out in a Raptors shirt
He said he would, and Kyle Lowry is sticking to it. At 40, the point guard is heading back to Toronto one last time to sign a symbolic one-day contract and retire as a Raptors player. It brings down the curtain on a 20-season NBA career, nine of them in Canada. And really, if you’re saying goodbye, it is hard to imagine a better place to do it.
The Raptors have called a news conference for July 7 and are already billing it as a major moment in franchise history. The secret is out. Lowry had said in January that he wanted to officially finish his career in Toronto. A few months on, he is ready to pull on the franchise colours one last time after becoming an NBA champion there.
Nine seasons, one title and a special place in Toronto
When he arrived in 2012, Kyle Lowry was not yet the legend Toronto is now preparing to celebrate. The guard had already done time in Memphis and Houston, but he had not found a home that really stuck. He eventually found one north of the border.
Alongside DeMar DeRozan, Lowry became one of the faces of a team that finally started winning with regularity. Toronto became a playoff fixture, 50-win seasons followed, and the guard piled up All-Star nods. He made six straight All-Star Games from 2015 to 2020. Even so, one question kept coming back every spring: just how far could this team really go?
The answer came in 2019. DeRozan was gone, Kawhi Leonard arrived and the Raptors delivered the season a whole country had been waiting for. In that team, Lowry did not try to steal the spotlight. He ran the show, defended, took punishment, drew charges – his trademark – and did whatever it took to win.
His opening burst in Game 6 of the Finals against the Warriors is still etched into memory. Golden State was fighting to stay alive, Oracle Arena was rocking for one last stand behind its team, and Lowry dropped 11 points in the opening minutes. The tone was set. By the end of the night, Toronto had its first NBA title and the guard had carved out his place in city history.
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Toronto will never hand out number 7 again
Kyle Lowry left in 2021, heading to Miami. He reached the Finals again with the Heat in 2023, before finishing up in Philadelphia, the city where he was born. A tidy way to close a career, but one last stop still remained: Toronto.
Because with the Raptors, Lowry left his mark everywhere. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in assists and steals, and also the player who has made the most three-pointers. Those numbers say plenty about his longevity, but they do not fully explain why fans in Canada took him so firmly to heart.
Lowry was never the flashiest player of his generation. That was never really his bag. His game was about the little things: setting a screen at the right time, scooping up a loose ball, or drawing a charge from a big man charging in full tilt. And, naturally, a few lengthy debates with the officials. Rival fans rolled their eyes. Toronto fans loved every bit of it.
Next season, the Raptors will honour him in multiple ways and retire his number 7. It will then take its place forever in the rafters of the arena he helped make shake for nearly a decade.
The calendar has thrown up a neat twist. Kawhi Leonard has just made his return to Toronto, and now Lowry is coming back too, even if only for one last goodbye. Two of the biggest faces of the 2019 title back with the Dinos, seven years after the crown. One is back to play. The other is back to wave goodbye to the crowd one final time.
The NBA loses a hell of a point guard. Toronto gets to say thank you to one of its own.
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