Kyle Lowry didn’t hide what he thinks the Toronto Raptors are chasing now that Kawhi Leonard is back in the fold. For Lowry, the message is simple: the move only makes sense if it points straight at another title.
“I think the moves that Bobby is making, they know what they’re going to do. They’re trying to win another championship.
Starting with that guy right there. You get him to that point, and the championship is the only aspiration.
That’s why he’s here.”
Lowry also said he’s eager to see how Toronto’s group comes together next season.
“I can’t wait to watch these guys grow and gel together. It’s going to be special,” he continued. “We’ve got some great young players… It’s going to be awesome.”
The former Raptors guard, who is retiring from professional basketball, also admitted Leonard’s return almost pulled him back into the game. During his press conference, Lowry joked:
“Bobby just told me he offered me a deal. I’m thinking about coming back because Kawhi came back.”
Raptors GM Bobby Webster was in stitches after hearing that line, and it’s easy to see why. Lowry spent years trying to push Toronto over the top, first alongside DeMar DeRozan and later after the roster changed around him. The title never came during those earlier runs, even with one of the league’s best backcourts in place.
Then Leonard arrived, took over as the face of the franchise, and Toronto finished the job in 2019.
Lowry made it clear he hasn’t forgotten what Leonard brought to the organization, either.
“Kawhi is a special person; he’s a special basketball player,” he shared. “I appreciate him even coming. It shows his humility to be here for my moment, and just to be here and support [me], I appreciate that.”
Leonard’s lone season in Toronto was the 2018-19 campaign, but it was the one that changed everything for the franchise. Now he’s back, and Lowry believes the Raptors have every reason to aim high again. With Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett in the mix, Toronto’s next chapter already has Lowry’s attention.
In Other News...
Raptors Reunion With DeMar May Have Been Doomed All Along
The Raptors long-ago pivot to Kawhi Leonard still hangs over any conversation about a DeMar DeRozan reunion, because the idea has always been about more than nostalgia. Toronto has spent years trying to balance star power, lineup fit and the cultural pull that comes with being the citys team, and DeRozans name keeps surfacing whenever the roster looks like it could use another proven scorer. Even the outside chatter has reflected that tension, with some around the league wondering whether the franchises identity, not just its basketball fit, would make a return feel complicated.
Sam Quinn of CBS has argued DeRozan is not the cleanest fit for what Toronto would need now, suggesting the Raptors could instead lean on staggered usage with Scottie Barnes and Leonard to create offense. Drakes presence in the Toronto conversation only adds another layer, since his influence around the team has often been part of the backdrop whenever old Raptors ties come up. For now, the reunion remains more of a debate than a transaction, and the real question is whether the organization ever decides the basketball case is strong enough to override everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Urged To Reunite Kawhi With A Familiar Franchise Star
The Raptors offseason has already taken a dramatic turn with the move that brought Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto, and the front office now faces the harder part of building a roster around him. One name that has surfaced in that conversation is DeMar DeRozan, whose release by Sacramento has reopened the door to a possible reunion with the franchise that helped define his prime years.
There is appeal in the idea of adding a veteran scorer who could steady second units and take some pressure off the stars, but the fit is not especially clean. Toronto would have to weigh shooting concerns and the overlap between DeRozans game, Leonards usage and Scottie Barnes role as an offense driver when Leonard sits, which makes this a more complicated basketball question than a nostalgic one. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Lowry Day Just Turned Kawhi Leonard's Return Into Pressure
Kyle Lowrys day in Toronto was supposed to be about celebration, and in a lot of ways it was. The franchise retired No. 7 in his honor, giving the longest-tenured face of the Raptors era a proper hometown salute, and Lowry used the moment to look back on the years that made him a fixture in team history. It was the kind of ceremony that reminded everyone how much of the modern Raptors identity was built around his edge, his leadership and the title chase that changed the organization forever.
But the return of Kawhi Leonard has shifted the conversation from memory to expectation. Lowry made it clear the bar is no longer nostalgia, and the front office has been just as direct about the goal now that Leonard is back in the fold. With the 2026-27 season in view, the message around the team is unmistakable: this is about winning another championship, and anything less would feel like a missed opportunity. [Read more 🡒]