Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Down to the wire, Kyle Lowry had been linked to the Lakers, 76ers and Heat. In the end, the Toronto Raptors decided to keep their point guard.
The rumors kept coming but when the dust settled, Kyle Lowry was still a member of the Toronto Raptors. The team had actively looked to trade him before the deadline and deals earlier in the day to send Norman Powell to Portland and clear roster spots with Matt Thomas going to Utah and Terence Davis going to Sacramento seemed to signal a trade was imminent. But it all fizzled out in the end.
Reporting from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and others indicated that the Raptors weren’t happy with the final offers they received from anyone. The 76ers were unwilling to part with both Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle and opted to trade for George Hill instead. The Miami Heat didn’t want to include Tyler Herro and ultimately swung a last-minute deal for Victor Oladipo. For the Lakers, Talen Horton-Tucker was reportedly the deal-breaker.
What’s next for Kyle Lowry and the Raptors?
The other deadline moves the Raptors made certainly indicate their moving into a more robust rebuilding phase but it’s unlikely that they would try to buy out Lowry. He will be in an unrestricted free agent this summer and given the close relationship with the team and the mutual respect in both directions, it’s more than possible that the Raptors either re-sign him to mentor a young team as he plays his way into retirement or engineers a sign-and-trade this summer that gets them a reasonable return and gets Lowry to a team of his choice.
The upshot for Lowry is that today is his birthday and now he knows he can concentrate on celebrating and won’t have to spend it packing or apartment hunting.