It isn’t exactly a secret that Kyle Lowry wasn’t content with the DeMar DeRozan trade this summer. Their friendship has been well-documented over the years and is one of the NBA’s more endearing stories. So naturally, it was a tough pill to swallow.
But how he’s dealt with it is beginning to cause some concern among Raptors brass. Lowry has been cagey about it when speaking to the media, starting this summer at the USA Basketball mini-camp in Las Vegas when he infamously dodged a question about whether he’d spoken to new teammate Kawhi Leonard since the trade. Now, according to a new report, Lowry apparently gave his organization the silent treatment.
Kyle Lowry, the team’s incumbent star, had declined to comment on the trade of his close friend and long-time teammate at a USA Basketball minicamp in Las Vegas over the summer. That was overblown and not a direct concern to the team – as Lowry correctly pointed out on Monday, he’s never made a habit of speaking to the media during the off-season.
Of greater concern, per league sources, Lowry had also been dodging calls and texts from team officials, including president Masai Ujiri and new head coach Nick Nurse, who Lowry said he only spoke with briefly right after Nurse was promoted in June.
The details are sparse, but it begs the question as to just how this latest dynamic will play itself out over the season. At the same time, it is totally plausible that Lowry just wanted to get away from things during a hectic summer, and now that he’s back in Toronto, this will all be water under the bridge.
At media day, Lowry reiterated his commitment to his ultimate goal of bringing a championship to Toronto. That’s a tall order for any team not named the Warriors, and though the Raptors are a better team on paper given the addition of Leonard (and Danny Green), they still face a tough gauntlet through the East with a healthy Celtics team and an emerging Sixers squad both standing in their way.
(Via TSN)
