With retirement on the horizon, Kyle Lowry prepares to fulfill a long-standing promise to return home and officially end his legendary career with the Toronto Raptors.
The Toronto Raptors’ playoff run ended two weeks ago after they lost Game 7 of their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While Toronto’s hopes of a championship may have ended, the Raptors and the entire NBA community may also be saying goodbye to a franchise legend.
Kyle Lowry’s Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs on Sunday, and with that exit comes the strong likelihood that one of the greatest Raptor in franchise history has played his final NBA game.
No official announcement has been made but if this indeed is the final stop for Lowry, it sets the stage for a homecoming that Toronto has been anticipating for years.
“My goal, and I’ve committed to this, I will sign a one-day contract and retire as a Raptor,” Lowry said during what could be his final visit to Scotiabank Arena this season. “That has not changed.”
He arrived to that January game wearing an Auston Matthews Maple Leafs jersey, instantly winning over a crowd that never really stopped loving him. The gesture was pure Lowry, equal parts sentiment and showmanship from a player who always understood the relationship between himself and a city that adopted him as its own.
Lowry joined Toronto in the summer of 2012, after he was traded from the Houston Rockets, and immediately began reshaping a franchise that had been adrift since Chris Bosh left for the Miami Heat two years earlier. His nine seasons as a Raptor were the most successful stretch in franchise history.
Lowry guided Toronto to seven consecutive playoff appearances, earned six All-Star selections, all with the Raptors. He also made the All-NBA Third Team in 2015-16, the same season he helped Toronto to a then-franchise-record 56 wins.
Alongside DeMar DeRozan, Lowry built one of the most reliable backcourts in the Eastern Conference at the time. Together they anchored a team that evolved from a first-round footnote into a consistent playoff contender.
The defining moment of Lowry’s career in Toronto came in June 2019. In Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Lowry recorded 26 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds in the title-clinching 114-110 victory, delivering the franchise’s first and still only championship.
To put his overall impact to perspective, Lowry ranks first in Raptors franchise history in assists, steals, and three-pointers made.
After leaving for Miami in 2021, Lowry later moved to the Charlotte Hornets before joining Philadelphia via contract buyout, completing his 20th NBA season back in his hometown of North Philadelphia.
The Raptors have retired only one jersey in franchise history, Vince Carter’s No. 15, which went to the rafters in November 2024 and Lowry’s No. 7 appears to be next in line.
Lowry has allowed himself to sit with what that moment would mean. “I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that,” he said. “The fact that it probably won’t ever be worn again would be pretty special.”
When asked what he would feel watching his number rise to the Scotiabank Arena ceiling, potentially with longtime Raptors voice Matt Devlin at the microphone, Lowry didn’t hold back on his emotions: “Y’all ever seen me cry?”
For a city that watched him bleed through seven playoff runs, carry the franchise through its darkest years, and deliver its only championship, granting Lowry his wish to retire a Raptor is the least favor it could return. And when Lowry does return, the building will be ready to welcome him with open arms.