Raptors' Kyle Lowry on failed trade to Knicks: 'Essentially, I was gone'
Toronto's Kyle Lowry didn't think he'd still be north of the border now.
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Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry will surely be an All-Star this season, and his team is on top of the Eastern Conference standings. The Toronto Sun just named him its sportsman of the year, and he opened up to Steve Simmons about his unlikely rise as a Raptor.
“The last two years have been a very peaceful, very happy time. I’ve never been more stable. I’ve never been more understanding.”
And the content Kyle Lowry never saw any of this coming.
A day after the Raptors failed to sign Steve Nash as a free agent, Bryan Colangelo brought Lowry in from Houston in a trade for a first-round pick and somebody named Gary Forbes. Lowry remembers his emotion on that day.
“Two and done and I’m going home,” he said.
He wanted nothing to do with the Raptors.
“I figured two years and I’d be a free agent and go somewhere else. This wasn’t where I wanted to be. I tell people that all the time. You can’t predict your future. You have to live it by the day.
“Two years ago, I would not have envisioned sitting here and talking to you about an award Roy Halladay won, but I’m happy I am. Things have worked out perfectly. I love the city. I love the organization. I love being here. I love where I’m at. It’s interesting how things happen.
“Our season last year was a helluva story. I was traded (to New York). Essentially, I was gone. My best friend (Rudy Gay) got traded. It was all messed up.”
Take a second and think about how many things had to go right for Lowry and the Raptors to get to this place. At this time in 2012, Lowry was nursing a partial triceps tear. When he returned, head coach Dwane Casey had him come off the bench behind Jose Calderon. It wasn't until then-general manager Bryan Colangelo traded Calderon in a deal for Rudy Gay that Lowry was even back in the starting lineup. Toronto wound up winning 34 games, and Masai Ujiri replaced Colangelo in the offseason.
There was speculation that Ujiri would immediately tear the team down and start over, but he didn't. You know the story from there -- the Raptors started slowly, traded Gay and surprisingly came together for a playoff run, with Lowry leading the way. Ujiri then gave Casey an extension, re-signed Lowry and strengthened the bench for this year. None of that would have happened if New York Knicks owner James Dolan hadn't backed off from an agreed-to Lowry trade that would have meant Toronto was tanking.
Lowry, who told the Toronto Sun that he's "more motivated than he's ever been," is obviously satisfied with how things worked out. The Raptors should be extremely grateful they got so lucky.
