Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have had one of the most successful on and off court bromances in recent NBA history as the all-star back court for a 50-win Raptors team over the past five seasons or so.
They were able to garner the eastern conference’s No. 1 seed after a 59-win season in 2017-18, before being shocked and swept by LeBron James yet again in the eastern conference semi-finals.
Because of the belief that their current core had reached their ceiling, the Raptors took a big (and warranted) risk by trading DeRozan this summer in a blockbuster deal for Kawhi Leonard.
DeRozan has not hid his anger, hurt and resentment toward the Raptors organization for their disloyalty in trading him and apparently his former partner-in-crime is still upset as well.
According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN:
“Per league sources, Lowry had also been dodging calls and texts from team officials, including president Masai Ujiri and new head coach Nick Nurse, who Lowry said he only spoke with briefly right after Nurse was promoted in June.”
It appears Lowry was already upset with the firing of 2017-18 NBA Coach of the Year (seriously) and player favorite Dwane Casey for former assistant Nick Nurse and trading DeRozan as well has caused a legitimate rift between him and the organization.
They will need to be in contact and on the same page soon as training camp is starting and Lowry is still the captain of the eastern conference contending Raptors with two more years on his contract.
This will be interesting to monitor.
