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Toronto Raptors: Predicting Kyle Lowry’s next contract and future team

By Geethan Viswathasan

Kyle Lowry brought the Championship to the North. (Photo by Rey Josue II/NBAE via Getty Images)
Kyle Lowry brought the Championship to the North. (Photo by Rey Josue II/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Raptors
Toronto Raptors – Kyle Lowry (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

Kyle Lowry’s has been a staple for the Toronto Raptors over the past few seasons. What’s his next step, and will it be in Toronto?

As the confetti settles in the Scotiabank Arena, one man is left in Toronto to represent a legacy from the Colangelo-Era.  The smile on Kyle Lowry’s face when the Toronto Raptors were being awarded the NBA Championship was representative of an entire fanbase. It’ the same smile he will have as he plays out possibly the final year of his Raptors contract.

Make no mistake, this is the greatest point guard in franchise history. Better than Jose Calderon, T.J Ford, Jarrett Jack, Mike James, Damon Stoudamire, and everyone else.

At the time of his acquisition, Lowry was the plan B, coming in as a backup to the aforementioned Jose Calderon. Lowry was acquired when the Raptors missed out on a 38-year old Steve Nash and a prime Jeremy Lin (Ironically, Lin ended up contributing to a Raptor Championship).

Seven years later, Lowry is the longest-tenured Raptor, the undeniable leader in the locker room, and an NBA Champion. In his age-32 season, Kyle Lowry was an All-Star, averaging 14.2 points, 8.7 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 41.1-percent from the field and 83.0-percent from the charity stripe. Lowry ranked behind only Russell Westbrook in dimes per game and finished 18th in the NBA in three-point makes per game.

Kyle Lowry was 5th in the NBA among Point Guards in Real Plus-Minus with an RPM of 4.65. The advanced ESPN metric estimates a player’s on-court impact on team performance.

Projecting these stats forward for a couple of seasons, one must factor in that Kyle has only played more than 65 games once in the last three year. Add in his bruising style of play that includes an affinity for drawing charges and some regression can be expected over the next few seasons based on durability alone.

So, what is all that worth on the open market?