Toronto Raptors: Latest report says Kyle Lowry is not getting traded this season

The Toronto Raptors were being bombarded with Kyle Lowry trade rumors even when they were winning this season, and their recent slide, which has helped them lose six straight games and eight of their last nine, has only amplified matters.

Lowry is still one of the game’s best point guards on both ends of the floor, and Toronto could easily make it to the postseason. However, Lowry is a free agent at the end of this season, and he could entice teams like the Miami Heat to part with quite a large sum of draft picks and players in order to make this deal happen.

Unfortunately for all teams interested, Lowry appears to be staying in Toronto for the remainder of the season, as Masai Ujiri is hesitant to give up on arguably the greatest player in franchise history during this playoff push.

Per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg, the Raptors have told teams who have inquired about Lowry’s availability that he is not on the market. Sounds like the GROAT is staying with the club for the remainder of this season.

Kyle Lowry is sticking with the Toronto Raptors

Lowry is averaging 17.8 points and 7.5 assists per game this season, showing that age has done little to erode the instincts and scoring touch that made him a future Hall of Fame point guard. That production would be enticing to contenders, but Lowry appears to be off-limits.

Lowry, who just sold his house in Toronto, is a Philadelphia native, and that desire to return to the states in pursuit of a championship has led many a tea leaf-reader to connect the dots and assume that the Raptors will trade him to get something of value in exchange.

Trading Lowry might make sense on paper, but giving away the heart and soul of the franchise for the last decade when Toronto has been a few bad bounces away from a playoff spot could be taken as a sign that Ujiri, Nick Nurse, and the Raptors are punting on this season. The playoff push would go down the tubes without him.

Lowry has earned the right to decide if he wants to either get traded in pursuit of a second ring or finish what he started this season in Toronto.

With Lowry and Norman Powell potentially coming off the books, Toronto has a critically important offseason ahead of them in 2021. While Lowry might decide to end his nearly decade-long stint in Toronto by just bolting as a free agent, it sounds like the Raptors are willing to delay that in the pursuit of making a charge for the postseason.