Kyle Lowry: The Greatest Raptor of All Time

TORONTO — Greatest.

It’s a word people throw around too easily, until a city gathers to show you what it really means.

On a crisp Saturday morning, roughly 1,500 people packed into Maple Leaf Square — Jurassic Park in full voice — not for the Raptors’ all-time leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, not for human highlight reel Vince Carter, not even for returning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.

They came for Kyle Lowry. A six-foot guard from North Philly, built more like a running back than a modern star, who never led the league in scoring and never chased the spotlight. And yet, in this city, he’s something no one else is:

The greatest Raptor of all time.

A Block Party for No. 7

The Raptors billed it as a Block Party. It felt more like a thank-you note written in concrete and cold breath.

Fans lined the square early, wrapped in No. 7 jerseys, milling through Lowry-themed exhibits and posing with a commemorative Raptor statue. Music thumped, kids shot on pop-up hoops, and on the big screen above, a decade’s worth of charges taken, threes hit, and arms raised replayed on loop.

He’s not the franchise’s leading scorer. He’s not the flashiest dunker. So why Lowry? Why was he the one to become the fastest player in Toronto sports history to see his jersey retired?

“The longevity, all the moments, and the stats as well, but the stats are only a little part of it,” one fan said, voice catching as he asked not to be named. “From start to finish, everything he brought. I don't want to get too emotional, but ... I think for everyone, it's pretty clear.”

Another fan, Kuya Naredo, who had won tickets to “A Night For Seven,” the charity gala capping the weekend of tributes, didn’t need many words.

“Kyle Lowry is the greatest Raptor of all time because that man is resilient,” he said. “He did everything he could every day. He led Toronto, he led Canada and he led the Raptors.”

Why show up on a chilly Saturday?

“Community,” he answered. Then he nodded toward the stage. “(Lowry) brought Toronto together, and so we've got to come together for him.”

The Architect of a Culture

Lowry took his turn on the mic and reminded everyone that this square, this scene, didn’t always exist.

“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.”

This wasn’t just about nostalgia. It was about authorship. About a player who helped turn a once-overlooked franchise into a destination and a champion.

Former teammates cycled through the stage, each one adding another brick to Lowry’s legacy.

“He’s an architect of the culture that eventually put the team on the mountaintop,” said C.J. Miles, who played in Toronto from 2017 to 2019. “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, a 2019 champion with Toronto and a veteran of dynasties in San Antonio and Los Angeles, didn’t hold back either.

“(Lowry is) one of the best players to come through our league,” Green told the crowd. “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.”

That’s praise from a man who has shared locker rooms with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James. Yet he placed Lowry right alongside them, not just as a player, but as a teammate and leader.

The theme kept returning to the same place: connection. Chuck Hayes, Terrence Ross, Miles, Green, Fred VanVleet — all circled back to one phrase, repeated so often it stopped sounding like a cliché and started sounding like a promise.

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 joked, drawing a chorus of playful boos. The Cavaliers forward-turned-Heat teammate of Lowry had seen those playoff battles up close. The crowd let him know those days are filed under “old business.”

DeRozan’s Blessing

Then came the man who shared the longest chapter of Lowry’s Raptors story.

DeMar DeRozan stepped onto the stage and the mood shifted. This was the partnership that dragged Toronto from plucky upstart to perennial contender, the duo that absorbed the heartbreaks before Kawhi’s shot finally dropped.

“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.”

The endorsement mattered. For years, debates swirled about who owned the franchise’s soul — Carter, the pioneer; DeRozan, the loyalist; Leonard, the assassin who delivered the title. On this day, the player who sacrificed his own Toronto ending for that championship era stood in front of the fans and handed Lowry the crown.

Humbled, Not Surprised

Lowry, never one to rush away from a microphone or a moment, soaked it in. The cheers, the chants, the memories. The unexpected gesture from Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who presented him with a key to the city.

“Humbled by it,” Lowry said. “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.”

The organization noticed too. So did the players.

Green, who has seen the inner workings of model franchises, put Toronto right at the top.

He grouped the Raptors with the 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 grew from Lowry’s understudy into the team’s lead guard after Lowry’s 2021 move to Miami, framed the day as something every player dreams of.

“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,” said VanVleet, now with the Houston Rockets but still calling Toronto “home.” “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.”

A Blueprint for the Rafters

Lowry doesn’t see his ceremony as a one-off. He sees a template.

“Hopefully we're doing this again at some point when (DeRozan's) No. 10 is going up in the rafters,” he said. “That 10 has to go up there.”

Green agreed. So did the crowd. There will be time to argue the order, to slot in Kawhi Leonard, to discuss who comes next. On this day, the hierarchy could wait.

“DeMar will have his moment at some point, Kawhi will have his moment,” Green said, “but we're here to celebrate the greatest Raptor of all time and give him his flowers.”

The fans did their part. They chanted “GROAT.” They begged for “one more year.” They pushed Lowry to linger, to sign just a few more jerseys, to pose for one more photo.

He heard it all. He smiled.

“Great chant, love it. Not gonna happen,” he replied, the smirk on his face softening the finality of the words.

One More Banner

Before he left the stage, Lowry turned it back on them one last time.

“Continue to be the best fans that you've been,” he said. “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 square slowly emptied, and the block party wound down.

The story doesn’t end there. Not quite.

The celebrations will flare up again on Jan. 10, when LeBron James and Lowry’s hometown Philadelphia 76ers visit Toronto. That night, No. 7 will rise into the Scotiabank Arena rafters, taking its place beside Carter’s No. 15.

For a franchise once desperate for relevance, the image will say everything: banners, legends, and the number worn by the player this city now calls its greatest.