Kyle Lowry: The Greatest Raptor of All Time
It’s a word that usually starts arguments, not block parties. Yet on a brisk Saturday morning in downtown Toronto, roughly 1,500 people packed into Maple Leaf Square to agree on one thing: their greatest isn’t the highest scorer, the flashiest dunker, or the most gifted talent to wear a Raptors jersey.
It’s Kyle Lowry.
Not DeMar DeRozan, the franchise leader in points and games. Not Vince Carter, the man who first electrified a country. Not even Kawhi Leonard, the Finals MVP who delivered the championship. The crowd outside Scotiabank Arena — in the place forever known as Jurassic Park — came to celebrate a stocky guard from North Philly who arrived with an edge, not a halo, and left with a city in his hands.
This was a Block Party for a retirement, yes, but it felt more like a thank-you note written in noise.
The GROAT, not the GOAT
Lowry has never been the statistical colossus. His resume doesn’t scream “all-time” at first glance. Yet among Raptors fans and peers, the verdict is close to unanimous: he’s the GROAT — Greatest Raptor of All Time.
“The longevity, all the moments, and the stats as well, but the stats are only a little part of it. From start to finish, everything he brought,” one fan said, voice wavering, asking not to be named. “I don't want to get too emotional, but ... I think for everyone, it's pretty clear."
Another supporter, Kuya Naredo, who won tickets to “A Night For Seven,” the weekend’s charity gala finale, didn’t bother with nuance.
“Kyle Lowry is the greatest Raptor of all time because that man is resilient. He did everything he could every day. He led Toronto, he led Canada and he led the Raptors.”
Why show up on a cold Saturday morning?
“Community,” he answered. Lowry, he said, brought Toronto together. So the least they could do was show up for him.
They did more than show up. For over three hours, fans milled around No. 7-themed exhibits, posed by a commemorative Raptor statue, and listened as former teammates tried to explain why this particular player, in this particular city, meant this much.
Lowry stood on stage, looking out at the square he helped turn into a playoff landmark.
“We started this, the whole Jurassic Park thing,” he told the crowd. “Everybody wants to have their own little version, but take pride in knowing we were the first to do this.”
Architect of a culture
C.J. Miles, a Raptor from 2017 to 2019, didn’t bother with soft-focus nostalgia. He went straight to the heart of it.
“He’s an architect of the culture that eventually put the team on the mountaintop,” Miles said. “I think someone who is that embedded into a city, an organization, a team, and to be able to give his all to something like that, and it reflects him, I think that's what makes him the greatest Raptors of all time."
Danny Green, who shared the 2019 title run with Lowry, pushed the praise beyond franchise borders.
“(Lowry is) one of the best players to come through our league. For a guy that size to play 20 years, one of the best teammates I've ever had ... I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Coming from a man who has won with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard and later LeBron James, that isn’t throwaway flattery. It’s context.
The theme kept circling back: Lowry’s impact went beyond the box score and beyond Toronto. But this city, this fan base, clearly left a mark on the players too. Chuck Hayes, Terrence Ross, Miles, Green, Fred VanVleet — they all found themselves repeating the same phrase: “best fans in the league.”
Only one voice broke the pattern, and he did it with a grin.
“I know this is Kyle's day, but isn't this 'LeBronto?'” Kevin Love cracked, drawing a brief cascade of boos. He never played in Toronto, but he knew the old Cavaliers-Raptors storyline too well from those playoff battles.
The jeers vanished the second DeMar DeRozan appeared.
DeMar’s blessing
DeRozan, Lowry’s longest-running partner in Toronto and emotional counterweight for years, closed out the player tributes.
"It means the world to me to be able to be here to celebrate ... the guy who finished this thing off," DeRozan said. "He's definitely the greatest Raptor of all time. The things he's been able to do for this city are amazing."
That’s the thing about Lowry’s legacy: DeRozan laid foundations, Leonard delivered the ring, but Lowry is the thread that runs through the era that changed everything.
The city recognized it. So did the mayor.
Lowry stood on stage as Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow surprised him with an impromptu key to the city. It was another layer on a weekend built around one idea: give No. 7 his flowers while he can still hear the applause.
“Humbled by it,” Lowry said later.
“When we put this plan together, (a block party) was one of the things I wanted to do to show love to the fans, honestly, because they mean everything. This basketball thing wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for them. It turned out exactly how I thought it would. I appreciate the fans coming out here. I appreciate the Raptors organization for allowing this to happen and putting forth such an amazing effort and making this weekend spectacular."
A standard for how to treat your greats
Players notice how franchises treat their own. Green certainly did.
He put Toronto in rare company.
He grouped the Raptors with the San Antonio Spurs as “the top two organizations that take care of the players, look out for the players ... while you're there, the city, the fans, nothing like it. So, again, I can't praise the city or the fans enough about how special they make us feel."
VanVleet, the undrafted guard who once backed up Lowry and later took his job as floor general, now with the Houston Rockets but still calling Toronto “home,” saw Saturday as a kind of justice.
"As a player, you put so much time and sacrifice, blood, sweat, tears into your craft and your game, you play every night, and so to see that paid back now at the end of his career, it's just a special day,” he said. “This is what sports is about, and we know what he means to this country, and so it's always just nice to see that it is paid back."
Lowry, typically more bulldog than sentimentalist, allowed himself to look ahead — not for himself, but for the next jersey headed skyward.
"Hopefully we're doing this again at some point when (DeRozan's) No. 10 is going up in the rafters. That 10 has to go up there."
One more year? Not a chance
For now, though, this was his stage. His square. His sound.
“Right now is Kyle's moment,” Green reminded everyone. “DeMar will have his moment at some point, Kawhi will have his moment, but we're here to celebrate the greatest Raptor of all time and give him his flowers."
The fans obliged. They chanted “GROAT.” They pushed against barricades for autographs and photos. Each roar seemed to buy them a few more seconds with him — one more signed jersey, one more selfie, one more story to tell.
Then the chants shifted.
“One more year! One more year!”
Lowry laughed, but he didn’t bend.
“Great chant, love it. Not gonna happen,” he said, smirking.
Instead, he left them with something else: a directive.
"Continue to be the best fans that you've been. Continue to rule the league in attendance. Continue to be you, unapologetically be you ... and hopefully there's another championship that comes through here, and I can be a part of that celebration with this organization and that group."
With that, the music faded, the crowd thinned, and the Block Party wound down.
But this isn’t the final act. Not yet.
The celebrations will rise again as Jan. 10 approaches, when LeBron James and Lowry's hometown Philadelphia 76ers visit Toronto — the night No. 7 takes its permanent place in the Scotiabank Arena rafters beside Carter's No. 15.
For a player who built a culture, delivered a title, and stitched himself into the fabric of a city, that’s not just a send-off.
It’s a fitting crown for the greatest Raptor of all time.
