New Toronto Raptors Announcement Leaves Kyle Lowry Retirement Question

The next NBA season is set to be an exhilarating one, highlighted by mass player movement that commenced this offseason. As for the Toronto Raptors, they are hoping that the addition of seven-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard will be the key to improving from a fringe playoff team to a championship contender. 

In other news, franchise legend Kyle Lowry officially retired with the Raptors after signing a one-day contract on July 7th. After 20 seasons in the NBA and nine in Toronto, general manager Bobby Webster announced to the press that the franchise would be lifting his No. 7 jersey into the rafters of Scotiabank Arena. This week, the Raptors officially announced that the “Greatest Raptor of All Time” will be honored over a four-day stretch, with fans receiving T-shirts on Jan. 7th against the Minnesota Timberwolves and bobbleheads on the 8th against the Utah Jazz. The celebrations will be concluded with his jersey retirement against his hometown Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 10th, the second of four matchups with newly acquired 22-time All-Star LeBron James. 

Another interesting homage to the franchise great came on the Raptors X account, where the team shared a new image of the dinosaur dribbling the ball with a finger in the air mimicking Lowry. While nothing was officially stated, fans expected this meant the six-time All-Star would be getting his own jersey for the team to wear at some point throughout the season. This is largely because it wouldn’t be the first time Toronto has done this; Vince Carter was the first to get his own jersey design with the Raptors, as the dinosaur showed off his famous Eastbay dunk from the 2000 dunk contest. 

Most recently, several NBA franchises have begun to announce particular jerseys that would be returning for the upcoming season, and the Raptors were no different. However, the jersey they announced was coming back was, in fact, the Carter homage, raising questions around Lowry’s potential design. While the possibility of the team repping two different dinosaur jerseys in the same season isn’t entirely out of the question, it would seem odd to go back and forth unless Lowry’s jersey was a one-time wear. 

One other option is for the Raptors to save the jersey for a later season. In Carter’s case, his jersey was retired in Toronto at the beginning of Nov. 2024, and the team wore his special design just weeks later. It would seem out of place to tease the design before the season if the team wasn’t planning on wearing it moving forward, so only time will tell what the actual plans are for wearing each of the homage jerseys.