Flashback to about four months ago. Kyle Lowry was asked about his role with the Miami Heat this season, and he winced at the thought of having to be on the bench like he was during last year’s Finals.
“I expect to start,” he said during Heat training camp on the FAU campus.
From that moment, questions about Lowry’s readiness to come off the bench continued to be asked of the 37-year-old guard and coach Erik Spoelstra.
Kyle Lowry seems ready to play off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers, something he has refused to do this season with the Miami Heat.
Lowry started 36 games until Spoelstra, with the team’s offensive problems, decided to call him off the bench on 19 January in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
“I hope it’s just one game,” Lowry told reporters after the game.
Lowry played just one more game for the Heat, two days later against the Orlando Magic, before the organisation decided to trade him and a future first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Terry Rozier.
After the Hornets and Lowry agreed on a buyout, Lowry signed a contract with his hometown Philadelphia 76ers earlier this month.
In his first media appearance as a 76er, Lowry told reporters that he is ready to play whatever role head coach Nick Nurse asks of him.
“I’m excited to be here,” Lowry said. “I understand my role and my job. My job is to make Tyrese [Maxey] better, to get this team to a point where it hasn’t been in a while, and that’s my job. My job is to do whatever I have to do to make this team and this organisation better. No matter what my role is, no matter what my minutes are, no matter what the situation is. My job is to be a professional.”
This seems to be a dramatic shift in Lowry’s thinking. In Miami, Lowry was adamant about starting, while in Philadelphia he seems ready to play any role and have any minutes.
And there are reasons for that. Keep in mind that Lowry came off the bench voluntarily in last year’s Heat Finals after Gabe Vincent passed him over as the starting point guard. When Vincent signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, the Heat entered training camp with only two traditional point guards: Lowry and the unproven Dru Smith. It would make sense for Lowry to look around this locker room and expect to start playing.
In Philadelphia, Lowry is the clear No. 2 behind Tyrese Maxey, who is the favourite for the MVP award and has blossomed into a 76ers teammate alongside Joel Embiid.
Heat fans’ frustrations with the way Lowry’s final weeks are going are justified. He’s averaging the fewest points (8.2), field-goal attempts (6.5) and assists (4) since becoming a full-time player in 2010, and it’s become clear that Miami needs more from him to energize the offense. Lowry wasn’t willing or able to provide that, so the Fever looked the other way.
In 2021, the Heat traded fan favourite Goran Dragic and young centre Precious Achiuw for Lowry. They earned the No. 1 seed in 2021-22, losing to the Boston Celtics in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Lowry averaged 26 minutes per game off the bench during Miami’s surprising Finals appearance last year as the eighth seed.
Lowry, who was last named an All-Star in 2020, averaged 11.4 points on 42.5% shooting and 5.8 assists in his two-and-a-half seasons in Miami.
The Fever overhauled their point guard rotation this season. With Lowry in Philadelphia and Smith out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Miami has replaced them with Rozier and Delon Wright, who recently signed with the Washington Wizards after a buyout.
The Fever went 4-6 in games with Rozier, who missed the last two games before the All-Star break with a knee sprain. He is expected to return in the next few weeks. The Fever won six of their last eight games before the All-Star break. They resume their season Friday against the Pelicans in New Orleans. They will play the 76ers on March 18 in Philadelphia.