Lowry’s Raptors legacy lives on in VanVleet

TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – It didn’t take long for Fred VanVleet to earn Kyle Lowry’s respect.

It was the first practice on the first day of VanVleet’s first NBA training camp back in 2016, and the 22-year-old undrafted rookie went right at the Raptors’ all-star point guard. He didn’t back down, and Lowry immediately took notice.

“It was kinda like a real recognize real moment,” VanVleet told TSN recently. “I think he saw [some of himself] in me.”

“I used to keep them on the same team [in practice] to avoid some of those skirmishes,” Nick Nurse joked. So, when the long-time teammates and close friends finally got the chance to face each other in a real game six years later, it was hardly a surprise to see VanVleet go toe-to-toe with his mentor and not give him an inch.

“That’s what respect looks like,” said VanVleet, who scored 29 points in Sunday’s game, though Lowry’s Miami Heat came away with the 114-109 win in his long awaited and much anticipated return to Toronto. “Obviously I wanted to give him my best and he deserves that. He brings out a different competitive edge in me, and one of the reasons why I have been able to grow as a player in this league is because he set the bar so high.”

It was a special night at Scotiabank Arena, a celebration of Lowry and everything he meant, and continues to mean, to the franchise and its fans. Back in the city he called home for nine historic seasons for the first time since joining the Heat as a free agent over the summer, the 36-year-old Raptors icon got the hero’s welcome he deserved.

The ovations started when he left the court following warm-ups and continued on throughout the evening. Lowry mostly held it together after his video tribute played during