Reason Why It Won’t Happen #2: Vince Carter
Okay, it’s not just Vince (how can you hate Vinsanity? Dude’s still ballin’ at 40), but Chris Bosh, T-Mac (to an extent), heck you could even throw Rudy Gay in there.
What am I talking about? Well, Toronto has had its history of messy splits with its (up-and-coming) stars, and it’s left some bad blood between Raptors fans and players that went on to bigger and better things.
DeRozan understood that and undoubtedly took that into account when he entered free agency last offseason before returning to the Raptors faithful on a five-year, $139 million contract. Once the deal was officially announced he reiterated time and time again about how he couldn’t leave a fanbase like this one, and he wanted to give it everything he got despite being linked to teams like the Lakers.
Lowry will face that same decision when he opts out of his current contract (which he plans to reportedly do). This is the franchise that has shown him the most support, and has arguably been the most stable, despite constant roster upheaval and an ever-improving Eastern Conference. Would he leave that for a few more zeros in his paycheck?