'Toronto, my home': Kyle Lowry signs 1-day contract with Toronto to officially retire as a Raptor

Kyle laurence stephen lowry, the little but mightily repoint ward who helped lead the Raptors to the team's only NBA championship, and spent nine seasons as the heart and soul of the franchise, has announced he will officially retire with Toronto.

"This place has just been special for me since the day I got here," Lowry said at a news conference Tuesday announcing his ceremonial one-day contract with the Raptors. "I always said I would retire as a Toronto Raptor."

During the announcement, Raptors general manager and executive vice president Bobby Webster called Lowry "the greatest Raptor of all time," saying he played with unparalleled grit and determination.

"Watching him play basketball stirred everybody's heart," he said. "I think he played a brand of basketball that very few in the NBA have matched. Every possession for him was life and death."

Lowry said his hard-nosed style of play seemed to immediately connect with sports fans in Toronto, where hockey was centre-stage when he arrived.

“I played through anything,” he said. “I think the city and the country, they go on guys that play hard.”

In a sign of that special connection, Mayor Olivia Chow officially proclaimed Tuesday Kyle Lowry day in the city, thanking him for bringing the people of Toronto and Canada together during his time with the Raptors.

Rumours had already been swirling that this announcement was coming.

Lowry, often referred to as Mr. Raptor, had hinted at retiring with the team in a cryptic video posted to his Instagram page Monday. Multiple media reports over the past week from outlets, including SportsNet, also pointed to his retiring with the team on a one-day contract.

Lowry officially announced his retirement just prior to Tuesday morning's news conference, in a video posted to his Instagram account.

"Toronto, my home," Lowry said in the six-minute retrospective of his life and 20-year NBA career. "Thank you, Toronto. Thank you, Canada."

The Raptors simultaneously posted a photo of Lowry in a Toronto jersey with the words "Welcome Home Kyle."

Welcome home 7 🤝 <a href="https://t.co/Lf7dpr8Hf7">pic.twitter.com/Lf7dpr8Hf7</a>

The announcement coincided with Lowry's iconic jersey number when he played with the Raptors as No. 7. That number will also be retired during a ceremony next season, Webster said.

The 40-year-old point guard left the Raptors in 2021 after being traded to the Miami Heat. He played nine seasons for Toronto — six of them as an all-star — and helped bring home the team's first NBA championship in franchise history in 2019.

Lowry has spent his last two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Raptors pay tribute to Kyle Lowry in his return to Toronto

During his time with the Raptors, he averaged out 17.5 points, 7.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds through 601 regular season games.

Webster said Tuesday the franchise's history was divided into two eras: before Kyle, and after Kyle. The Raptors had never won 50 games prior to Lowry's arrival, he noted, but had five straight 50-win seasons, including a championship run, after he came to Toronto.

Lowry will still be involved with Toronto basketball after his one-day Raptors contract expires. The Toronto Tempo announced in a release Tuesday that Lowry and his wife, Ayahna Cornish-Lowry, have joined the team’s ownership group.

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Lowry's return and retirement comes shortly after the team re-acquired star forward Kawhi Leonard, who played with Lowry on the 2019 championship team before signing with the Los Angeles Clippers as a free agent.

Lowry said Tuesday that he hoped Leonard, who was in attendance at the announcement, would help bring another championship to the city.

While answering questions, Lowry also got a short FaceTime call from another Raptors great, Vince Carter, who congratulated him on his career.

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