Kyle Lowry Is Carrying Over A Tradition From Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant

Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry has a knack for finding the game ball, a tradition he learned from watching Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant years ago

Aaron Rose | Feb 27, 2021

There's an old Chinese proverb that goes something like this: If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else.

Kyle Lowry has figured that out.

The 34-year-old Toronto Raptors point guard loves to play the role of the cantankerous old man on the team.

"I thought you were asleep old man," Lowry joked with Toronto Star reporter Doug Smith when Smith was late to ask a question after Friday night's 122-111 victory over the Houston Rockets.

The truth is Lowry is far more of a people person than he'd like you to know. You can tell by the way he acts with his teammates. He does the subtle things that bring people together.

When Raptors assistant coach Sergio Scariolo stepped up to take over Toronto's head coaching duties on Friday night to clinch his first career NBA win, Lowry made sure to find the game ball and deliver it to Scariolo.

"Kyle is always extremely attentive to those details, the little things which really make a difference to make a team feel like a family," said Scariolo who replaced Raptors head coach Nick Nurse as he and five other assistant coaches remain in quarantine reportedly due to a positive COVID-19 case among the coaching staff. "I really appreciate that.

"I will keep that basketball very close to other basketballs that my players give to me after a medal or a championship or whatever."

It's a tradition Lowry has carried over from a basketball generation gone by.

"I think it's just something that I remember seeing Michael Jordan grab the game ball when he won, I don’t know what championship it was and I believe Kobe, I've seen Kobe do it," he said.

He does it for his teammates. He wants them to have a special token from their incredible night, something to represent their first career win or a career milestone like Fred VanVleet's 54-point night earlier this month.

"It’s a moment that you always have and you'll be able to go back and look at and say it was this is this moment," Lowry said. "You can pass it on to your kids and your grandkids and their kids and it's something that's like, you'll always have in your family forever, and it's just something that is special for that individual, right."

He might not like to show that side very often to the media. He'd rather fend off questions like a press conference ninja, but the truth is it's there. Lowry is a giver. He wants to make sure those around him find happiness.

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