October 01, 2024
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
Kyle Lowry has returned to the Sixers, this time for a full season playing in his hometown.
All sorts of themes emerged Monday during Sixers Media Day from the team’s Camden, NJ practice facility, but one persistent sentiment echoed through the room for hours: excitement about the return of veteran point guard Kyle Lowry, who agreed to a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract with the Sixers about a week into free agency.
After being traded by the Miami Heat before last season’s trade deadline, Lowry was bought out by the Charlotte Hornets, became a free agent and inked a deal for the remainder of the year with the Sixers. It was a homecoming for the Philadelphia native and Villanova alum and it was a reunion with head coach Nick Nurse — a handful of years after Lowry and Nurse helped lead the Toronto Raptors to their only NBA championship in franchise history.
Initially, Lowry was slated to be Nurse’s first guard off the bench, playing a role that was meaningful but not necessarily acting as a featured piece. But an injury to De’Anthony Melton forced Lowry into Nurse’s starting lineup for nearly the entirety of his time with the team. By the end of the season, it was clear his role had expanded a bit too much — but it was just as evident that Lowry still has what it takes to help a team in its pursuit of a championship.
Lowry, reportedly received contract offers from several title contenders in free agency. He will turn 39 years old on March 25; every season is now precious for one of the league’s most respected veterans. But Lowry elected to remain with the Sixers.
“It was short, but it was fun,” Lowry said of his stint with the team last season. “I got a chance to get to know Tyrese [Maxey] and Joel [Embiid], to get back with Nick. Being around Nick was part of the reason to come back.“
Lowry also mentioned wanting to continue in his role accelerating Maxey’s development. “It was a perfect for for me,” Lowry said as he spoke about the team’s new-look roster.
“Kyle’s a winner,” Nurse said. “He’s a veteran presence that brings toughness, brings a super high level of IQ. I just don’t think you can have enough of that around.”
As for Lowry’s role, Nurse sees it being scaled back a bit this time around — and acknowledged that Lowry’s playing time last season was enlarged by necessity.
“He’s hard to keep off the floor sometimes. I don’t envision [his role] being as big as last year,” Nurse said. “But I think we got injury’d into that a little bit more than we probably wanted to.”
Nurse asserted that he still views Lowry as a critical piece of his rotation. “[Lowry is] still an effective player and brings a lot of intangibles to our team,” he said.
Nurse is right. Lowry’s athleticism and explosiveness have diminished in recent years, but he remains a valuable player. Lowry is a proficient spot-up three-point shooter — a crucial skill on a star-laden team like the Sixers — and a high-caliber passer. His remarkable strength makes him a very effective defender across multiple positions. All of this is accentuated by Lowry’s brain — he has one of the most brilliant minds in all of basketball, and it enables him to get every bit out of his skills while also making his teammates better.
Moments earlier, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey said that a team built around Embiid should feature players who can space the floor as three-point shooting threats and are “guys you can go to war with.” Lowry is clearly the former; he also epitomizes the latter.
During Lowry’s time in Miami, he shared a locker room with new Sixers wing Caleb Martin. When Martin signed a four-year deal with the Sixers, Lowry had not yet agreed to return. Still, Martin said that he would be just fine fitting in with any team that Lowry fit in with. Now, the two hard-nosed players are teammates once again.
“We have a great relationship,” Martin said. “I learned a lot from him in a short amount of time in Miami. He’s a winner, you know what I mean?”
Typically reserved in front of a microphone, Martin was suddenly interested in speaking at length when Lowry was the subject.
“He knows what it takes to win. He's been there and he's he's done that. He’s got such a high IQ and he just knows the game... I saw the instant impact he had midway through the year when he [came] from Miami to here. Seeing how he impacts teams in a positive way.”
With Lowry’s nature comes intensity, and with intensity comes expectations. That is compounded by the understanding that he is nearing the end of his career.
“I think the expectations for us is to win the championship,” Lowry said.
Luckily, Lowry is surrounded by a group that will be able to keep things light. Just look at Maxey, who couldn’t resist mocking Lowry’s age when discussing the team’s guard rotation.
“The guards that we have are,” Maxey began. “I’m going to use this for Kyle Lowry: old. Reggie Jackson, [Eric Gordon], they’re not old. But Kyle Lowry is old.”
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