{"id":119755,"date":"2026-07-07T13:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/119755\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:19:14","slug":"kyle-lowry-who-led-raptors-to-their-lone-championship-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/119755\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Lowry, who led Raptors to their lone championship, to retire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Lowry, who helped lead the Toronto Raptors to their lone championship in 2019, is retiring from the NBA. Generally agreed to be the greatest player in Raptors franchise history, the six-time All-Star guard announced his retirement with a video on Instagram on Tuesday<\/a>, revealing his intentions to sign a one-day contract with the Raptors.<\/p>\n

The Raptors are expected to announce plans to retire his No. 7, which he wore for eight of his nine seasons in Toronto, during the 2026-27 season at a news conference later Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

After he joined the Miami Heat in 2021, Lowry said he intended to finish his career by signing a ceremonial contract with the Raptors. It\u2019s a fitting end to a storied career, highlighted by his turn as a key figure in Toronto\u2019s seven-year playoff streak from 2014-20, by far the best run since the Raptors entered the league in 1995.<\/p>\n

This past season was his 20th in the NBA, making him the 12th player to hit that milestone. He and Chris Paul are the only 6-foot-and-under guards in that club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a massive accomplishment to do in the game of basketball, with the physicality and the strength, the mental (energy you need) in sports and basketball,\u201d Lowry said in January. \u201cIt was pretty important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When considering both career length and peak, Lowry is the easy choice as the greatest Raptor in franchise history. While his long-time teammate and close friend DeMar DeRozan has him beat in categories such as games played and points, Lowry holds many records of his own. He is also one of only three players to score more than 10,000 points with the Raptors, along with DeRozan and Chris Bosh.<\/p>\n

He made the All-Star Game every year from 2015 to 2020. In his last All-Star appearance, playing for his head coach, Nick Nurse, Lowry drew multiple offensive fouls in the final minutes, a big part of one of the more memorable All-Star Games of this century. Drawing charges was one of Lowry\u2019s signatures, with the point guard among the league leaders multiple years.<\/p>\n

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\n Lowry regularly led the NBA in charges drawn during his 20-year NBA career ( Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe plays harder than anybody I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Nurse said in 2021. \u201cI can\u2019t give him a higher compliment than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry\u2019s crowning individual moment came in the clinching game of the 2019 NBA Finals. In Game 5, Draymond Green blocked Lowry\u2019s would-be game-winning attempt at the buzzer, sending the series back to Oakland. Lowry responded by going on a personal 11-2 run in the first 2:12 of Game 6. With so many poor shooting games on his playoff resume \u2014 he shot 62 of 180 in his 15 career Game 1s with the Raptors, an individual and team bugaboo during his tenure \u2014 the scoring spurt served as an emphatic rebuttal to that history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of guys that (had a similar) journey and they haven\u2019t been able to get to this point. I\u2019m just so happy to be able to be a part of it and to say I\u2019m an NBA champion,\u201d Lowry said after the Raptors won the title. \u201cI don\u2019t take it for granted at all. I know how hard it\u2019s been, how hard it is to get here. I know how (much) it takes and it takes some luck also. And it takes some purified professionals just to go out there and keep going and working and trying to get it done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be a part of that fraternity now to say I\u2019m a champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry was underselling the unlikelihood of his journey in Toronto. In one of the most influential trades in modern NBA history<\/a>, the Raptors sent a first-round pick to the Houston Rockets for Lowry in the 2012 offseason. (Houston eventually sent that pick to Oklahoma City in the James Harden trade. The Thunder later selected Steven Adams 12th in the 2013 draft, three picks before Milwaukee selected Giannis Antetokounmpo.)<\/p>\n

Lowry split the starting duties with Jos\u00e9 Calder\u00f3n in his first season in Toronto, also the last for then-president Bryan Colangelo. Calder\u00f3n was moved in the Rudy Gay trade in the first year of Masai Ujiri\u2019s Toronto tenure, but it seemed like Lowry would be the next Raptor to leave as Ujiri appeared to be eyeing a rebuild. Lowry has often said he had his bags packed as he prepared for a trade with the New York Knicks that either fell through in the final stages or was never as close as reported, depending on who you believe.<\/p>\n

Even after that and the Raptors\u2019 unlikely rise during the 2013-14 season, there were moments when a Lowry-Raptors divorce seemed inevitable, whether it was one of the first two times Lowry reached unrestricted free agency or even during the title year, when Lowry bristled over the DeRozan trade and his own status with the team. Lowry could have been moved at the 2019 trade deadline. Instead, he and Ujiri worked out their differences, and the guard helped steer the ship during a championship run.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody deserves it more than that guy,\u201d Fred VanVleet, Lowry\u2019s teammate in Toronto, said after the Raptors title. \u201cWhat he\u2019s been through, the slander that he takes. People kill him for better and for worse, when he deserves it and when he doesn\u2019t deserve it. For him to play one of his better games on the highest stage for a championship, I\u2019m so happy for him. I know he\u2019ll say it doesn\u2019t bother him, but I know him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry eventually left the Raptors in a sign-and-trade to the Heat during the 2021 offseason. He was on the trade market before the deadline during the prior season, but Ujiri ultimately held on to him for the end of a lost season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the heat of the moment I was surprised (the offers were underwhelming) because, to be honest, I\u2019ve viewed him as somebody that can go out and put a stamp on what you can do this year,\u201d Ujiri said at the time.<\/p>\n

Lowry went to his second finals with the Heat in 2023, losing to the Denver Nuggets. He was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for Terry Rozier the next season, eventually receiving a buyout. He signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he played his last two-plus years in his hometown with Nurse as coach. While he had a playing role on occasion, he spent most of the time as a veteran mentor to Tyrese Maxey and, in Lowry\u2019s final year, rookie VJ Edgecombe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it does and when it does it will be a super emotional day,\u201d Lowry said in January about the Raptors potentially retiring his No. 7. \u201cI put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that seven and to know that it probably will never be worn again will be pretty special. I think \u2026 that for my basketball legacy, (that) will be pretty darn cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry finishes with 7,110 assists, ranking 19th in NBA history. He\u2019s 56th with 1,501 steals. He leads the Raptors in both categories, as well as 3-pointers and triple-doubles, not to mention a series of advanced statistics such as win shares and value over replacement player.<\/p>\n

His six All-Star nods, all with the Raptors, are a franchise record. He also made All-NBA Third Team in 2015-16, when he averaged 21.2 points, 6.4 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. That was the only year he placed on any MVP ballots.<\/p>\n

Lowry averaged 13.8 points, 6.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 1,187 career games between stints with the Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Miami, Philadelphia and Toronto. Memphis drafted him with the 24th pick in 2006 out of Villanova, and he ranks first among players from his draft class in minutes and games played, third in points (behind LaMarcus Aldridge, Gay), fourth in rebounds (Aldridge, Gay and Paul Millsap) and second in assists (Rajon Rondo).<\/p>\n

Lowry appeared as an analyst for Amazon Prime Video in its first year as an NBA broadcaster. Prime said Lowry would have \u201cincreased responsibilities in the future\u201d when the partnership was first announced last September.<\/p>\n