NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 reasons Kyle Lowry should leave the Toronto Raptors

3. The Raptors have built their best roster, and they can’t get much higher

Kanye West lyrics aside, the Raptors have truly peaked with their current roster. They already have Lowry, DeRozan, and even brought in Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic midway through the season to be a real threat. Even with all of that talent, specifically built to matchup with the Cavaliers and Celtics, they couldn’t get over the hump.

Unless the Raptors can somehow break the salary cap and just keep bringing people in, their current roster can’t really be improved, and they can’t hold onto this talent forever. Free agency is already playing a factor, and Lowry and DeRozan are pieces that are up in the air right now.

Lowry obviously has goals to succeed in this league, and win some titles. The furthest this roster, without Ibaka, ever got was a conference finals matchup with the Cavaliers last season, and the result went as expected. Depending on how much Drake trolling and coaching Lowry can deal with, the schtick of getting eliminated before an NBA Finals appearance gets old sometime.

For someone with the option to leave now and pursue success elsewhere, it’s definitely appealing to be on a more well-rounded roster in Philadelphia, or exploring possible options in the Western Conference. For now, the Raptors need to do some serious work, and have some housekeeping to do if they want to keep this same roster around, let alone add more to it.