Kyle Lowry – Toronto Raptors
*Note: Kyle Lowry is an unrestricted free agent this offseason
All of the Toronto Raptors’ attention is on the 2021 NBA Draft right now, especially after they jumped up in the lottery to steal the #4 overall pick, but their biggest offseason storyline revolves around the future of Kyle Lowry.
The 35-year-old guard is an unrestricted free agent this offseason and there are a ton of rumors about where he may play next season. After deciding at the last minute not to trade him at the trade deadline, the Raptors held onto Kyle Lowry, but this may have proved to be a terrible mistake given the value they could have received for him.
The Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers were all teams vying to try and trade for the 6x All-Star at the trade deadline this year and they will not only be three teams targeting Lowry again in the offseason, but the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Clippers are expected to pursue him in free agency as well.
Right now, it seems like Kyle Lowry could be on the move this offseason and sign with a new team in free agency, but this does not mean that Toronto will completely come out empty-handed. They do own Lowry’s bird rights, meaning that they can offer him more money than any other team possibly can, which could result in a sign-and-trade on Toronto’s end of things.
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Not only could they salvage some value by executing a sign-and-trade with Lowry, but they could also create a massive trade exception for themselves to utilize during the 2021-22 season. With VanVleet, Siakam, Anunoby and Boucher all under contract for next season, the Raptors have their building blocks in place, they just need to surround them with more talent.
Many people tend to forget that the Raptors just won a championship in 2019 and even though they beat the short-handed Warriors, they were still champions that year. This team definitely has a chance to become a championship-contender once again and they do not necessarily need Kyle Lowry to do so.
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With this being a weak free agent class, the Raptors could actually use Lowry’s free agency as a means to possibly get what they want in the offseason via a sign-and-trade. He is going to be one of the most sought after point guards available this offseason and in the end, he is on the back-half of his career, so it may be best for Toronto to part ways with him now rather than later when they are hard capped.
Kyle Lowry delivered the city of Toronto their first championship, he has been their leader for years and will forever go down as one of the all-time greats in their franchise’s history, but his time to move on has come and it is expected that another contending team will look to add Lowry in the offseason as their “final piece” to their championship puzzle.
