NBA Free Agency 2017: One signing every team should make

Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry

The Toronto Raptors have to re-sign Kyle Lowry. If there was a way to sugarcoat that further, I’d do it. But there’s no escaping the simple reality of the situation that they’ve put themselves in. Does general manager Masai Ujiri really want to put more hope into a team led by Lowry and DeMar DeRozan for the foreseeable future? Maybe not. However, if the alternative is a team that’s led by only DeRozan moving forward, then it might be worth the price.

Unfortunately for the Raptors, they’re starting off on somewhat of a bad foot as the point guard has plans to test the waters in NBA free agency. Despite being on the wrong side of 30, Lowry still has enough to offer a team that he will garner plenty of high-priced interest on the open market. Subsequently, the Raptors will have to pony up if they want to retain him. That makes the decision even tougher.

However, the simple situation that they’ve put themselves in is that they can either build around Lowry and DeRozan or they be locked into mediocrity for quite some time. Most big-name free agents aren’t clamoring to get to Toronto. Therefore, whenever they’re able to build a quality core, they have to keep it intact and then build around it. Losing Lowry would have devastating consequences to that approach.

As a result, the Raptors would be put in a bad spot moving forward, somewhere between a full rebuild and being a playoff team thanks to being locked into DeRozan with no Lowry to complement him.