UPDATED 3/9, 11:42 a.m. ET: Toronto Raptors veteran Kyle Lowry posted an Instagram story early Tuesday appearing to deny a report by The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo that he’s been “telling everybody” he expects to be traded soon.
“The lies people tell in the Media are amazing,” Lowry’s Instagram story read. “Don’t put [things] out when they ain’t come from me!”
See original story below.
Here’s some news sure to crush any Toronto Raptors fan’s heart: Kyle Lowry reportedly expects to be traded this season, and has not been shy in telling people about it.
The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo joined the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he said that the Raptors’ point guard has been telling folks he believes his departure from the franchise is imminent.
“Lowry has been telling everybody for over a month that he is getting traded, which is interesting that he’s already like, ‘Yeah, I’m out of here,’” Russillo said. “So I don’t know if that’s him saying it, I don’t know if that’s some understanding that he has with the front office. I don’t know that part of it, but whenever you ask about Lowry, it’s, ‘Well, he thinks he’s leaving.’ I think they should trade him, by the way.”
Rumours about a Lowry trade have been circulating for the last couple weeks. There was a report by The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey saying Lowry would like to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, followed by the point guard’s agent Mark Bartelstein quickly shutting it down. “That’s just not true,” Bartelstein said on SiriusXM NBA Radio with Justin Termine and Eddie Johnson. “The communication’s great (between Lowry and the Raptors)… his focus is on playing for the Raptors and winning and helping his teammates and doing great things the rest of the season.”
But rumblings aside, the facts remain: Lowry is 34 years old and in the final year of his contract, and Fred VanVleet is poised to be the point guard of the Raptors’ future. It does make sense for the Raptors to try getting something for Lowry instead of seeing him depart with zero return. And there are undoubtedly teams interested in acquiring the guard in hopes of making a deep playoff run.
Nevertheless, it would hurt to see the greatest Toronto Raptor of all time go. Especially considering how good he’s been playing this season—he’s averaging 18.0 points, 7.0 assists, and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 40.3 percent from deep.
The Raptors are currently sitting at eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 17-19 record, and the NBA trade deadline is less than a few weeks away, on March 25.
If these rumours about Lowry telling everyone he’s leaving us are true, I don’t wanna know.
