The Miami Heat pursued veteran guard Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline in late March and didn’t get him. But the organization’s interest in Lowry never waned.
Less than five months later after a disappointing first-round exit in the playoffs, the Heat is adding Lowry to its roster in free agency.
Just minutes after free-agent negotiations were allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, the Heat struck a deal with the Toronto Raptors on a sign-and-trade that brings Lowry to Miami. Lowry confirmed the move with a post on his Twitter account.
The details of the sign-and-trade were still unknown as of Monday at 6:50 p.m.
Lowry, 35, will sign a three-year deal with the Heat that will end when he’s 38. Players acquired via sign-and-trade must be signed to contracts for at least three seasons, and the first year of the deal must be fully guaranteed with the remaining seasons allowed to be non-guaranteed.
Miami needed to acquire Lowry via sign-and-trade because it does not have cap space to sign him outright as an over-the-cap team.
Despite his age, Lowry (6-0, 196 pounds) is still considered one of the league’s top point guards. Lowry, who was voted into the All-Star Game in six of the past seven seasons, will be expected to elevate the Heat’s offense with his efficient three-point shooting and ability to take some of the on-ball pressure off Jimmy Butler as a facilitator while also serving as a tough on-ball defender on the other side of the court.
Lowry averaged 17.2 points while shooting 43.6 percent from the field, 39.6 percent on threes and 87.5 percent from the foul line, 5.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists and one steal in 34.8 minutes with the Raptors last season. He has spent the past nine seasons in Toronto and is considered one of the greatest players in Raptors history.
Lowry was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the 2015-16 season and was a key part of the Kawhi Leonard-led Raptors team that won the NBA championship in 2019.
The Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans, which both could have created $30-plus million in cap space, were expected to aggressively pursue Lowry in free agency. But multiple outlets reported that teams planning to target Lowry started shifting their focus elsewhere when the Lowry-to-the-Heat momentum began building on Sunday.
The Heat always seemed to be Lowry’s preference. Playing for Miami appeals to him and Butler and Lowry’s close friendship was a factor.
Butler revealed earlier this year that Lowry is the godfather of his daughter Rylee. Butler and Lowry were also Team USA teammates on the squad that won gold in Brazil in the 2016 Olympics.
The Heat’s pursuit of Lowry at the trade deadline in March fell short in part because of its reluctance to include 21-year-old guard Tyler Herro in offers. Just a few months later, Miami acquired Lowry as a free agent and Herro is still on the Heat’s roster.
While negotiations began Monday evening, free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Friday at 12:01 p.m.
Friday is also the first day that Butler is eligible to sign his extension with the Heat. The expectation is that Miami will sign Butler to a maximum four-year contract extension once allowed later this week that’s worth about $181 million and begins in 2022-23, according to a league source.
