It feels wrong to write about Kyle Lowry and the speculation surrounding his career literally days after he posted a pretty strongly worded message on his Instagram.
"Don't put thing(s) out when they ain't come from me!!"
But that's exactly what we're going to do today, if only because the source directly acknowledged Lowry's Instagram message and spoke to Lowry's agent, Mark Bartelstein. That source is Michael Grange of Sportsnet, and he put it bluntly: "Lowry is not going to be dealt before the March 25 trade deadline."
Of all the suitors, this probably impacts the Philadelphia 76ers the most, as they were the team with the most smoke building in this hypothetical trade scenario, but teams like the Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers also either had reported interest or had been floated around as ideal landing spots.
But perhaps it's best, now, to put all of this speculation behind us and move on to the next ideal targets for these playoff contenders. And, as Grange says, it's not because the Raptors and Lowry haven't at least thought about it, seeing as he's on an expiring contract and the Raptors haven't quite made the strongest impression on the league through the first half of the season as a legitimate title contender.
But Grange also says that it's becoming "more and more clear" that a deal is unlikely for a number of factors, and one league insider helped to provide the context as to why this is the case.
“I really don’t get the impression that they’re moving him or that they’re looking for something to do with him,” one longtime league insider told Grange. “I think the climate has changed where they’re saying, 'You know what, we got off to a slow start. OK fine, we’ll end up 4-5-6 [in the East], worst-case scenario.' So why push Kyle out?”
Bartelstein didn't completely squash trade rumors, but he did put an end to the idea that Lowry, himself, is the one that's pushing for a deal to occur.
"A story comes out that Kyle’s told everybody he’s out. That’s just blatantly not true,” Bartelstein said. “It’s just 1,000 per cent not true. Are there a lot of teams around the NBA that want Kyle? Yeah, who wouldn’t want an all-star point guard...
"...He has clearly not told anybody that he wants out of Toronto. Masai and Bobby and I talk all the time. You can never put anything in concrete in this business, things change, but there is literally nothing to all this chatter about Kyle wanting out or telling his team he wants to go there."
One thing Lowry has made clear is that he will retire as a Toronto Raptor, no matter what the steps are that he'll take in between his current Toronto stint and the eventual final stint.
And so, though nothing is ever set in stone, it seems like Daryl Morey, Andy Elisburg and the other general managers around the league should probably direct their sights elsewhere for that midseason boost that their respective teams could use. And, simultaneously, these teams may want to look at the 17-19 Raptors not as a middling, borderline playoff team, but as a serious threat once again. After all, though the season hasn't been great, they did turn their 2-8 starting point into a near .500 record at the All-Star break, and more consistent play — and perhaps a key acquisition — could thrust them right back to the top of the Eastern Conference.
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