LAS VEGAS — The text message hit Kyle Lowry’s phone on July 6, his basketball future changing with it. Kawhi Leonard was gone, leaving Toronto after one season for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 2019 NBA champions were no more.
“He texted me, let me know,” Lowry said. “That was it. I said, ‘I’m happy for you.’”
In the weeks leading up to Leonard’s decision, Lowry and Leonard had maintained regular communication. Phone calls, text messages, FaceTime. But the subject wasn’t basketball. Never basketball.
“Not at all,” Lowry told SI.com. “I have never been a recruiter.