A staple of the Toronto Raptors franchise since arriving in 2012, Kyle Lowry is undoubtedly the leader in the clubhouse. After a stretch of incredibly productive years in which he was criminally underpaid, Lowry signed a much more fitting free agent contract to keep him in Toronto for three more years.
During his time in Toronto, Lowry has averaged 17.4 points per game to go along with 7.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds. However, Lowry has posted numbers below his Toronto averages in each of the last two seasons as he has battled injuries along with a major roster overhaul headlined by the departure of his best friend and longtime running mate, DeMar DeRozan.
Kyle Lowry Contract: How Much Does The Raptors Guard Make?
Kyle Lowry signed a 3-year deal in 2017 free agency for $100,000,000. While not necessarily a max contract, Lowry signed for just under the max and took a team friendly deal in order to help the Raptors have some increased cap flexibility. Before Lowry’s massive payday, he was on a four-year deal worth only $48,000,000. Lowry opted out of the last year of his deal on that contract, hitting the free agent market and receiving a hefty, and well earned, raise.
In the years leading up to Lowry’s extension, he averaged career-best scoring totals to the tune of 21.2 and 22.4. Lowry and DeRozan formed a formidable backcourt duo and led the Raptors to multiple years of finishing towards the top of the east, leading the Raptors to resign both Lowry and DeRozan for healthy sums of money. However, Lowry and DeRozan were never able to bring a deep postseason run to the Raptors and GM Masai Ujiri decided to break up the band, sending DeRozan packing to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard.
Kyle Lowry’s Postseason Struggles
Given the Raptors repeated inability to make a deep push into the playoffs, analysts scrutinize Lowry’s performances and he has earned the reputation of someone who cannot produce in the postseason. Especially on the back of an abysmal 0-7 night from the floor to get the 2019 playoffs started.
However, outside of one rough first-round sweep at the hands of the Wizards in 2015 that saw Lowry score just 12.1 points per game, he has never averaged below 15 points per game in any year of the NBA playoffs.
In fact, during Toronto’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016, Lowry averaged 19.1 points per game as the Raptors took the eventual champion Cleveland Cavaliers to six games. From there, the Raptors would start repeatedly running into the LeBron James buzzsaw and proved that they were simply unable to dethrone the best player in basketball.
While it is true that Lowry has struggled to find sustained postseason success in the win/loss column, he has stepped up and performed in the playoffs from a statistical standpoint. Outside of his two seasons averaging 21.2 and 22.4 points per game, Lowry has never averaged over 20 in another season and looking at his playoff numbers, they are fairly close in line with what he brings in the regular season.
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