Kyle Lowry will play north of the border for the first time since Feb. 28, 2020, on April 3 - his Toronto Raptors homecoming after joining the Miami Heat via sign-and-trade in August.
Given his nine years with Canada's lone NBA franchise, the 36-year-old is looking forward to showing just as much love - if not more - back to the city and fans who came to embrace the scrappy floor general from North Philly.
"It's a moment of me appreciating them, and them appreciating me," Lowry told the Toronto Star's Doug Smith. "I think I appreciate them more than they appreciate me because I wouldn't have been able to do half the stuff I did without them."
Lowry's career-defining run included six straight All-Star appearances from 2014-20, an All-NBA nod in 2015-16, and a foundational role on the Raptors' title-winning 2018-19 squad.
Overall, Lowry averaged 17.5 points, 7.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per contest with 37.7% 3-point shooting in 601 regular-season games for Toronto.
The point guard leads the Raptors franchise in all-time assists (4,277), made threes (1,518), steals (873), and win shares (74.5). He's also second in scoring (10,450 points) behind former backcourt mate DeMar DeRozan, the recipient of more than a few Lowry assists in their six seasons together.
But for Lowry, many of the enduring memories of his time in Toronto have less to do with what he achieved on the court than with those who touched his life off it.
"The people I was able to connect with outside of basketball are special," he told Smith. "We grew as a group, and they watched me grow as a man and grow as a father and grow in every way.
"They were just a part of everything, they were my family and my friends. We adopted each other."
