Toronto spent this past weekend doing something the city rarely gets to do for an athlete who actually stuck around long enough to earn it: throwing a party for a legend while he could still enjoy it. Fans packed Maple Leaf Square on Saturday for a free block party, Mayor Olivia Chow handed over a key to the city, and the Raptors unveiled a permanent statue in his honor outside Scotiabank Arena.
It was a proper celebration of a GROAT legacy nine years in the making, with the real crescendo, his jersey retirement, still to come. It's a fitting moment for the franchise to look backward just as it builds a new coaching staff — including bringing back the Kawhi whisperer himself — to try and create something similarly special going forward.
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) defends Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) in the third quarter at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck, USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
None of this was inevitable back in July 2012, when Toronto acquired Kyle Lowry from Houston in a trade that barely registered outside hardcore draft-and-transaction circles. He arrived with a reputation as a talented but combustible point guard, the kind of player teams were often eager to move on from rather than build around. Nobody in that moment could have predicted that seven years later this same player would be hoisting the franchise's first championship trophy, let alone that Toronto would eventually consider him the greatest player ever to wear the uniform.
What separated Lowry from every other talented guard who passed through Toronto, the real foundation of his GROAT legacy, was never really about measurables. He was undersized for his position throughout his career, and he made up for it with a competitiveness that bordered on the obsessive. Charges taken with his body on the line, extra possessions manufactured through sheer will, screaming matches with teammates that were really just a demand for more from everyone around him — that GROAT legacy was built possession by possession, not through highlight reels.
Toronto fans didn't just respect Lowry. They saw themselves in him, an underestimated player from a city not exactly known for producing basketball talent, proving doubters wrong one hard-earned bucket at a time. His toughness, persistence, and willingness to embrace the grind made him feel like a reflection of the city itself. Lowry wasn't just building a career in Toronto; he was helping put the city on the basketball map.
Toronto Raptors guards Kyle Lowry (right) and Fred VanVleet (left) look on before the start of the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY SportsPreview
The individual accolades eventually caught up to the winning. Lowry made six consecutive All-Star teams between 2015 and 2020, a stretch that also included an All-NBA Third Team selection in 2015-16, back when Toronto was still trying to convince the rest of the league it belonged in serious title conversations. Those honors mattered, but they were never really the point for a player whose value was always reflected more in winning plays than in personal stats.
Lowry's impact stretched well beyond the box score, too. He often spoke about what it meant to represent not just Toronto but the entire country of Canada, once explaining that the fans stretched from Halifax to Calgary and everywhere in between. That connection helped turn Lowry into something closer to a Canadian basketball icon than a traditional American import, a bridge between the sport's growing popularity across the country and the team that made it happen.
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) talks with Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden (13) during a timeout in the second quarter at Amalie Arena. Photo Credit: Jonathan Dyer, USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Every thread of Lowry's career converged in the spring of 2019. He started all 24 playoff games that postseason, doing exactly what he'd always done, setting the table, defending the toughest matchups, and sacrificing his own shots for a first-year superstar in Kawhi Leonard .
That willingness to play second fiddle to Leonard, despite years as the unquestioned engine of the team, is exactly the dynamic people keep referencing now as Toronto tries to figure out whether Scottie Barnes can fill a role similar to Lowry's. It worked in 2019 because Lowry cared more about the banner than the box score, and it delivered the franchise's first championship in its 24-year history.
What makes Lowry's career even more remarkable is how long it lasted. He played 20 NBA seasons, one of just 12 players in league history to reach that number, and one of only two point guards ever to do it.
After leaving Toronto, he had stops with the Heat and 76ers before finding his way back to where it always belonged. Longevity at that level, especially for a player who built his game on physicality rather than finesse, is its own kind of legacy — the same durability skeptics overlook when they doubt whether Toronto's young core can build something special of its own.
The ending was always going to happen in Toronto, and Lowry made sure of it. On July 7, fittingly 7/7 for his jersey number, he signed a ceremonial one-day contract with the Raptors so he could officially retire as a member of the only franchise he ever wanted to be remembered by. "This is home, and Toronto will always be home," he said that day, capping a farewell that felt less like a transaction and more like a homecoming years in the making. General manager Bobby Webster put it simply afterward, saying watching him play basketball stirred everybody's heart.
That emotional foundation is exactly what made this past weekend land the way it did. The block party, the key to the city, and the new statue outside Scotiabank Arena all existed because a fanbase genuinely wanted to celebrate someone who gave the city everything he had for nearly a decade. Nobody walked away from Maple Leaf Square this weekend doubting how much Lowry meant to Toronto.
The biggest moment is still ahead. Lowry's No. 7 will officially rise to the rafters at Scotiabank Arena on January 10, 2027, when the Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers, becoming just the second number in franchise history retired after Vince Carter 's. Three separate theme nights will lead into that ceremony, giving Toronto months to keep celebrating before the banner actually goes up for good.
Lowry's week was never really about one golden statue or one viral joke — it was about a city finally getting the chance to say thank you while its greatest player stood there and heard it. From an unheralded 2012 trade to a 2019 championship to twenty years of NBA basketball, Lowry's GROAT legacy was built on toughness, sacrifice, and an absolute refusal to be overlooked. Toronto is still figuring out what its next great era looks like now that the Kawhi saga is finally over and a new chapter is underway. Still, whatever it becomes, it will be measured against the GROAT legacy Lowry set first.
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