Kyle Lowry was willing to sign with San Antonio, but the feeling wasn't mutual
What's the story?
Many expected that Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry would sign elsewhere during this past offseason. One of the destinations that Lowry was looking at was the Raptor's opponent on Monday, the San Antonio Spurs, but they didn't show the same enthusiasm.
In case you didn't know...
The Raptors lost to the Spurs 101-97 on Monday evening to fall to 2-1. Lowry had an off-game with only 8 points on 3 of 11 shooting including just 2 of 8 from three-point land.
The heart of the matter...
Lowry noticed that San Antonio had the cap room and a vacancy at point guard and felt like a great fit. Lowry said the following:
"It was real for me, but it wasn't real for them. That's a part of the business that people don't know. I would have loved to come here, but it didn't work out. The conversation didn't happen. If the conversation happened, I would tell you. But it didn't happen."
With Tony Parker getting up there in age, and Patty Mills only being a role player for the team, many expected the Spurs to go after Lowry or Chris Paul in free agency, but didn't sign either in the end and would sign Rudy Gay instead.
With the Spurs out of the running, there wasn't much of a market for Lowry and he re-signed with the Raptors but reiterated that he didn't want to leave Toronto:
"Not saying that I wanted out, but I did look at teams to see what was going on. I mean this place would've been a great place."
What's next?
Lowry and the Raptors (2-1) next play the Golden State Warriors (2-2) on Wednesday to take on the defending champions.
Author's take...
I thought Lowry was all but out the door in the offseason and the Spurs would have been a great fit, but it's hard to question the business tactics of one of the best-run franchises of the past decade in San Antonio.