Maybe there’s nothing unusual about Raptors announcing Saturday that Kyle Lowry had been granted permission to remain at the team’s base in Tampa, Fla., rather than make the trip to Charlotte, N.C., for the opening pair of pre-season games Saturday and Monday.
Maybe it only makes sense to rest a 34-year-old point guard in advance of the coming onslaught of a season that, beginning Dec. 23 against New Orleans, will see the Raptors play 72 games in something in the range of 145 days. Maybe the team is giving Lowry the weekend off for a few rounds of golf in the Florida sun.