Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors Out to Finish What They Started

In announcing his return Sunday to the Toronto Raptors on the Players' Tribune, Kyle Lowry emphasized how Canada's most populous city had become home for him.

Heck, he even called the piece "Home."

"I'm coming back to Toronto because my heart is telling me that it's home—and because staying home, for me and my family, feels like the right thing to do. My heart is telling me that this is the best city in the world, with the best basketball fans in the world. It's telling me that the Raptors can be a championship-level team, sooner than later. And I'll be honest (and don't hate)—it's telling me that I've still never had poutine.

"But most of all: It's telling me that, if you're looking for people to believe in—choose the people who believed in you first."

The deal—worth $100 million over the next three years, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski—makes it clear both Lowry and the Raptors believe in one another. But something else became blatantly obvious Sunday: Neither the Raptors nor Lowry are giving into the one-man firewall known as LeBron James.

With James fresh off seven straight NBA Finals appearances, both parties could have justified a fresh start. For Lowry, free agency was a chance to escape to the Western Conference. For Toronto, it was an opportunity to begin a rebuild with an eye toward a post-James (or declining James) era.

Instead, both Lowry and the Raptors decided to double down on their recent successes, which shouldn't be a surprise considering the family-like relationship the two have established.

Five years ago, the Raptors liked Lowry enough to sacrifice a first-round pick (which later became the key piece in the Rockets' trade for James Harden) to pry the pugnacious point guard from Houston. Since then, the team has (with the exception of 2012-13) averaged a third-place finish in the Eastern Conference.

Lowry and the organization have endured bumps along the way—including during this year's negotiations, wherein he reportedly pushed for a fourth year, per USA Today's Sam Amick. During his second season with the Raptors, Lowry nearly wound up with the New York Knicks in a deal that would've sent Iman Shumpert, Metta World Peace and a future first-round pick back to Toronto.

"That deal was done," Lowry told USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt.

That is, until Knicks owner James Dolan squashed it, fearing another fleecing at the hands of Raptors then-general manager (now president of basketball operations) Masai Ujiri.

Since then, Lowry has fashioned himself into a staple of the most prosperous era in Toronto's sordid basketball history. He's appeared in each of the last three All-Star Games while partnering with fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan to lead the Raptors to their first two 50-win seasons, their first four-year playoff streak and their first conference finals appearance.

Lowry, then, had earned his latest payday in the Six. But unless you're Kobe Bryant, with a handful of championships on your resume, you don't get paid $30-plus million per year as a retroactive "thank you"—and even the Mamba only made that much once.

For Lowry and the Raptors, this is an enormous down payment on what could be a bright future together.

Brandon Dill/Associated Press

At the very least, bringing back Lowry all but assures that Toronto won't slip into the Eastern Conference sewer like the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and, to a lesser extent, Atlanta Hawks figure to after parting ways with resident stars. Such continued relevance may make the juice worth the squeeze for a franchise previously known better for grooming and losing talent (i.e. Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Chris Bosh) than for retaining any of it.

That the Raptors were able to get the 31-year-old Lowry to accept a three-year pact comes as another victory for the organization. Rather than locking too tightly into the waning years of an aging, undersized point guard, Toronto can count on a cleaner cap come 2020, when DeRozan can opt out of his max deal, Serge Ibaka's reported new three-year, $65 million contract (via Wojnarowski) will be up and Jonas Valanciunas will be back on the market, assuming he doesn't turn down his player option in 2019.

By then, the Raptors should have a clearer picture of their long-term future. For all the praise that's been lavished on how Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge has simultaneously rebuilt and retooled, Ujiri may achieve a similar feat in Toronto. While the Raptors' core has taken the team to new heights, Ujiri has quietly installed a promising layer of young players beneath them.

Norman Powell, a second-round pick out of UCLA in 2015, has shown tantalizing two-way potential. Pascal Siakam, the 27th overall pick in 2016 draft, started 38 games at power forward as a rookie. Delon Wright, a 2015 first-rounder, may get to show more of his talents at guard if Toronto ends up moving Cory Joseph—perhaps to the Indiana Pacers, according to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders. Jakob Poeltl, a 2016 lottery pick out of Utah, will be waiting in the wings if (or when) the Raptors part ways with Valanciunas.

Those youngsters—along with the likes of Lucas Nogueira, Bruno Caboclo, Fred VanVleet and incoming rookie OG Anunoby—will benefit from at least three more years of Lowry's leadership and winning basketball north of the border. The front office can also use those prospects on cheap rookie deals to offload the salaries of Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll should the need arise.

Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

The upside of this Toronto squad isn't limited to what the kids might become down the line. There's plenty yet to be mined from the core.

Ibaka, 27, played all of 23 regular-season games in Toronto after coming over from Orlando at the trade deadline. Just three of those came alongside Lowry, who spent much of the time after the All-Star break sidelined by a wrist injury.

That combo, though, showed plenty of promise during its limited time together. According to NBA.com, the Raptors outscored their opponents by 23 points in 81 minutes with Lowry and Ibaka both on the floor. Drop DeRozan into the mix, and Toronto's highly paid trio put up a plus-21 in 72 minutes during the regular season.

It's no wonder, then, that Lowry was so stoked to return to Toronto.

"...as exciting as it's been around here—I don't think we've reached our true potential," Lowry wrote. "And you'd hear the whispers, you know, those same experts that were telling us to blow this up in 2013, there they are again with that same talk in 2017."

Lowry's return to the Raptors doesn't come without concerns. Even if he stays healthy and avoids a precipitous decline in production, his track record of inconsistent postseason play could hamstring how far Toronto goes with this core. The aforementioned chemistry between Lowry and Ibaka, along with the Lowry-Ibaka-DeRozan trio, flipped dramatically during the 2017 playoffs:

	Regular Season	Playoffs
Lowry-Ibaka	plus-23 (81 minutes)	minus-17 (203 minutes)
Lowry-DeRozan-Ibaka	plus-21 (72 minutes)	minus-27 (173 minutes)

That's troubling for a team whose goals and luxury-tax-bound payroll point squarely toward April, May and June. Will ownership be fine dipping into the luxury tax for the first time in over a decade for a squad that might not have what it takes to overcome James and the Cavaliers?

On the other hand, James could leave Cleveland (if not the East entirely) as a free agent next summer. Those stats pertaining to Lowry, DeRozan and Ibaka are drawn from a small sample that could prove unreliable down the line. With more time—for the current core to jell and for the prospects to develop into more consistent difference-makers—the Raptors may have what it takes to rule the conference roost.

With Eastern Conference contenders dropping like flies this summer, Toronto should comfortably be in the mix for a top-four seed with Lowry back in the fold. A break here, some good fortune there, and the Raptors could complete their arduous climb from the basement to the penthouse in the coming years.

Lowry, for his part, seems bent on doing just that.

"And if you start something?," he concluded in his letter. "Man, you finish it."

All stats via NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.

Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R Lakers lead writer Eric Pincus.