Kyle Lowry's No. 7 to Be Retired by Raptors

Vince Carter’s No. 15 is about to get company.

The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday that Kyle Lowry’s No. 7 will be retired on Jan. 10, when the franchise icon returns to Scotiabank Arena to face his hometown Philadelphia 76ers. On that night, the player who once reshaped the Raptors’ identity will see his number lifted into the rafters, no longer just worn, but enshrined.

“I’ve been looking forward to this moment for years. I always said that Toronto is home, and that I’d retire a Raptor, and to see my No. 7 go up in that building is going to mean everything to me,” Lowry said in a statement released by the team.

For a decade, Lowry was the heartbeat of a franchise that went from plucky outsider to NBA champion. He didn’t just arrive in Toronto; he embedded himself in it. The league saw the box scores. The city saw the charges taken in November, the grimaces, the snarls, the quiet handshakes with ushers and security guards in the tunnel.

“We built something special here — my teammates, the organization, the city and the fans, and all of Canada. We became champions together, and to be able to share this night with all of them, and with my family, is going to mean a lot to me,” he added.

The Raptors plan to stretch the celebration beyond a single evening. Lowry will be honoured at home games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 7 and the Utah Jazz on Jan. 8, a three-game tribute that mirrors the length and depth of his impact. By the time Jan. 10 arrives, the ceremony will feel less like a formality and more like a culmination.

Lowry, now 40, played his final NBA season in 2025-26 with the 76ers before officially closing the circle on July 7, when he signed a one-day contract to retire as a Raptor. The paperwork only confirmed what had long been understood: his career, in spirit and in story, belongs to Toronto.

Across nine seasons with the club, Lowry became the standard by which every future Raptor guard will be judged. He helped drag the franchise from first-round frustration to relevance, then to respect, then to the summit in 2019, when Toronto claimed its first NBA title. On a team that featured Kawhi Leonard’s superstardom and a deep, balanced roster, it was Lowry who often set the tone — barking out coverages, pushing the pace, picking himself off the floor again and again.

His résumé in Toronto is as complete as it gets. Six All-Star appearances, all in Raptors colours. A spot on the All-NBA Third Team in 2015-16. Career averages of 13.8 points, six assists and four rebounds per game that only hint at the totality of his influence.

The record book tells the rest of the story. Lowry leaves as the franchise leader in assists, steals, three-pointers and triple-doubles. He sits second in games played and points, and he owns more playoff points and playoff games than any Raptor before him. When the stakes rose, his imprint only deepened.

Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals in Oakland remains his purest distillation. With a championship hanging in the balance, Lowry opened the night by scoring the Raptors’ first 11 points, seizing control of the moment before the Warriors could settle. That early barrage didn’t just steady his teammates; it announced, unmistakably, that Toronto had come to finish the job.

From that night to this coming January, the arc is clear. Lowry arrived as an underappreciated guard searching for a home and leaves as the player many regard as the greatest Raptor of all time, his number soon to hang alongside Carter’s as a permanent reminder of an era that changed everything.

On Jan. 10, when No. 7 rises into the rafters, the building will pause. The franchise will look up. And the question will linger over the noise: how long before another Raptor matches the standard Kyle Lowry set?