By Ryan Esdon
On Wednesday, January 27th against the Milwaukee Bucks Kyle Lowry hit a three-pointer to become the third player in Raptors history to pass 10,000 points with the team. I bring this up because this amazing accomplishment has added to Kyle’s resume for the title of the Greatest Raptor of All Time (GROAT). When there’s discussion about who the GROAT is there are usually five names as options; Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, DeMar DeRozan, Kawhi Leonard, and Kyle Lowry. These are legitimate options but I believe that Kyle stands above them for a couple reasons. This is not going to be looking at reasons why or why not for every player listed, it’s just about Kyle Lowry.
As mentioned before Kyle is now third all time in points (and probably will be second by the end of the season) he is also first in assists, steals, triple doubles, three pointers made and he’s even fifth all time in rebounds for the organization. He has been able to achieve all of this because he is second in games played for the organization. All of this shows that he is just a really well rounded point guard and has been producing at a high level for the team for a long time now. I could not find a statistic for it but I would put money on it that he leads the Raptors in charges taken. Kyle Lowry is a true competitor for the Raptors on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
Another thing worth mentioning is something that the Raptors commentators bring up a lot and that is the Kyle effect. It’s not something tangible or something that will show up in a box score for a game but when Kyle is on the floor the Raptors just seem to get a boost. I think the Kyle effect was seen a lot in the 2019 playoffs because even though he wasn’t the first or second option for scoring he was without a doubt the leader of the team. Kyle is the kind of player that will talk to officials about every single call made and have his teammates back when they are struggling. This was an important attribute because clearly Kawhi Leonard was not going to be that guy. I believe that if there was no Kyle Lowry on the 2019 playoff team that there would be no championship for the Raptors. He is the heart of the team and has been for almost a decade now. I realize that this would not make a lot of sense to people but if you have seen enough Raptors games it becomes obvious how valuable Kyle is to the team.
One more thing I think is key in mentioning is how loyal he has been to the city of Toronto. Teams like the Raptors do not attract free agents, so loyalty is important. Without it the Raptors would lose a lot of their best players and even some of the star players listed above showed they weren’t willing to stick it out with the Raptors. Kyle has not failed to compete with the team in all his years of service. I remember when he first got here and the team went through some rough playoff runs (Lebronto was in full effect for many years). He could have left the team or asked to be traded but he didn’t. When a player shows his love to the city of Toronto the city and country will fully embrace that player. Kyle is one of those special players that will forever be loved in Canada and Toronto. Hopefully this comment on loyalty ages with his free agency coming this summer. Whether he retires a Raptor or not I believe Kyle will be remembered in Toronto with his jersey retired, a handful of records, and hopefully a statute of him taking a charge.
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