Kyle Lowry dodged Raptors' calls after DeMar DeRozan trade: report
Kyle Lowry fielded some tough questions on his best friend DeMar DeRozan during Monday’s media day, but the Raptors point guard said all the right things.
“Our relationship is bigger than basketball,” Lowry said about the trade that sent DeRozan and Jakub Poeltl to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. “I talked to him last night, we talked about life, you know? He’s still my boy. But at the end of the day, I’m coming to work and I’ve done that every year since I’ve been here.”
Much like his brand new teammates, Lowry is choosing to focus his energy on the upcoming season. The 12-year veteran, who is preparing for his seventh season in Raptors red, will enter the campaign as Toronto’s official leader in the locker room. But despite his efforts to deflect, questions about the big trade — specifically pertaining to the Raptors executive who pulled the trigger — just kept coming on Monday.
“He made a decision, you know?” said Lowry when asked about whether he still trusts Masai Ujiri. “At the end of the day he’s the president of our organization and he makes decisions to help us win a championship. It’s a decision he made. For me, my job is to be ready to go, and I’m ready to go and play.”
Again, business as usual, but a report from TSN’s Josh Lewenberg shortly after media day suggests Lowry may have been a little bit more upset about the DeRozan trade than he had led on.
Kyle Lowry, the team’s incumbent star, had declined to comment on the trade of his close friend and long-time teammate DeMar DeRozan at a USA Basketball minicamp in Las Vegas over the summer. That was overblown and not a direct concern to the team – as Lowry correctly pointed out on Monday, he’s never made a habit of speaking to the media during the off-season.
Of greater concern, per league sources, Lowry had also been dodging calls and texts from team officials, including president Masai Ujiri and new head coach Nick Nurse, who Lowry said he only spoke with briefly right after Nurse was promoted in June.
No one would be shocked if Lowry was upset with Ujiri after the trade. Ujiri and company likely assumed that Lowry might not have handled the news so well — and who knows, maybe avoiding Masai’s calls and texts was for the best. Lowry probably didn’t have many great things to say, so it was likely wise to not say anything at all.
But while everything may appear to be business as usual for Lowry, it’s safe to assume that he has returned to Toronto with a heavier heart than seasons prior.
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