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Other than the Lakers, the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Miami Heat were all interested in signing the 28-year-old point guard.
According to Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report, Lowry had a few areas of concern when it came to possibly signing with Los Angeles:
In the case of the Lakers, Lowry was concerned because there wasn’t a coach in place, the structure of the team was unclear and winning right away didn’t seem likely.
With no coach and only Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Robert Sacre and Kendall Marshall under contract at the time, the Lakers weren’t exactly the most attractive destination. Even with Lowry, it is unrealistic to think the Lakers would be a contender in a deep Western Conference next season.
Lowry decided to re-sign with the Raptors for four years at $48 million:
There were several reasons. One was competing in the weaker Eastern Conference. Another was continuing his defensive evolution under the blue-collar Casey, whom Lowry said he respects. A third was continuity by staying in the same city that Lowry called “unbelievable.”
During the regular season, Lowry averaged 17.9 points with 7.4 assists per game helping the Toronto Raptors finish as the third seed in the Eastern Conference. He led the franchise to their first playoff appearance since 2008 and just one win shy of advancing to the second round for the first time since 2001. During the postseason, Lowry boosted his scoring to 21.4 points per contest.
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