It seems that Masai Ujiri’s pitch to Kyle Lowry won’t be enough to get the point guard to immediately re-sign with the Toronto Raptors. It’s hardly Ujiri’s fault, though; the market for Lowry is just that fierce. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Raptors are considering offering Lowry a five-year contract to persuade him to re-up with Toronto.
Line of teams chasing Kyle Lowry so long that Raptors now said to be weighing whether to offer fifth year to Lowry to clinch his re-signing
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 1, 2014
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A fifth year of guaranteed salary should be of great interest to the 28 year-old Lowry. He’d be 33 and past his prime by the deal’s end, surely netting him an additional several million dollars of salary in 2018-2019 compared to hitting free agency again in the prior summer. As proprietor of his Bird Rights, the Raptors are the only team that can offer Lowry a five-year deal.
With championship contenders circling, though, perhaps Lowry will part ways with Toronto after all. He’s recently gone on record to express his desire to play for titles as opposed to playoff berths, and teams like the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat offer a surefire means to that spike in quality. Earlier tonight, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports confirmed the long-held assumption that the Heat are interested in Lowry.
Miami reached out to Kyle Lowry's agent Andy Miller tonight, and sides are planning to talk in the morning, source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2014
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The Raptors have a good thing going north of border and seem prepared to offer Lowry an extra year of financial security if that’s what it takes to retain him. The question now is if that matters as much to him as a realistic chance to play for championships in the immediate future. Only Lowry knows for sure, and given the news that he plans to talk with the Heat in the morning, he seems genuinely undecided.
Will Lowry re-sign with the Raptors?
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