30 Unbelievable Facts Every Fan Should Know About Kyle Lowry

15 April 2019, 8:22 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Kyle Lowry, known for his tenacious playing style, which has often earned him comparisons to a pit bull or bulldog, is currently playing for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Here are some really interesting things to know about the American professional basketball player:

He holds the Toronto Raptors' franchise record for triple-doubles, as well as the most made three-point field goals in a season, for the 2013–14 season.
He was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December 2014 on January 5, 2015, making him the second Raptor, after only Chris Bosh, to have received this recognition.
During the 2013- 2014 season, he is credited with leading the Toronto Raptors to the playoffs and win an Atlantic Division title for the first time in seven years. This was his second season with the team.
He is also credited with helping the Raptors reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time, during the 2015-2016 season.
The same season, he is reported to have led the team to a whopping 56 wins, which was at the time the highest win total in the franchise history.
He, as a member of the U.S. men's national team, won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, earning praise for his defense and leadership during the tournament.
His performance in the 2016 Summer Olympics earned him the name "Team's Unsung Hero," from head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and as the "Best team player out of everybody," from the assistant coach Jim Boeheim.
He is often considered as a strong rebounder for his position and as well as an elite defender, who is known to use the stubby little body to draw more charges than anyone.
He and his wife Ayahna Cornish set up the Lowry Love Foundation, with the focus of improving the lives of underprivileged children, in the year 2013.
During the 2013-2014 season, for his performance of off-the-bounce 3s, getting Toronto into its offense, toning down the wild gambles on defense, he was noted as the best point guard, with Zach Lowe of Grantland quoting "Lowry was probably the best point guard in the Eastern Conference from start to finish."

Kyle Lowry was born on March 25, 1986 to Lonnie Lowry Sr. and Marie Holloway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has an elder brother named Lonnie Jr., who was a role model to him in his formative years, encouraging him to play basketball.
His parents divorced when he was very young, and his father, though resided only ten minutes away, never really involved in their upbringing, leading to a very difficult childhood.
He was first initially interested in Baseball and was exceptionally good at it. However, his brother convinced him to pursue basketball more seriously and started training him. With his skills, he drew the attention of Dave Distal, an assistant coach at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia, who made Lowry a part of their basketball team.
He first started his high school career as a point guard for the Cardinal Dougherty Cardinals high school basketball team. He was listed as the No. 6 point guard and the No. 28 player in the U.S., and was considered as a five-star recruit by Rivals.com in the year 2004.
He was named to the Big East All-Rookie team and was also tabbed Philadelphia Big Five Rookie of the Year, in his freshman season at Villanova, with an average of 7.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game, in the total of 24 games.
He scored an average of 11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game, in the 33 games of his sophomore season and was named to the All Big East Second Team, as well as the First Team All-Big 5.
He was the 24th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft, recruited by the Memphis Grizzlies, signing a two-year contract on July 9, 2006. In his first NBA season, he scored an average of 5.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
Just three years with the team, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, when Lionel Hollins joined the Grizzlies as their new coach. He went on to play four seasons for the Rockets, during which he developed a deep bon with the then-coach Rick Adelman.
However, when Adelman was replaced with head coach Kevin McHale, he had several disagreements, and decided to let go of the team with the completion of 2011-2012 season. He later regretted his conflict with the McHale and apologized to the coach.
He recorded his first career triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 110–108 win over the Utah Jazz on March 20, 2011. This led to him becoming the fourth Rockets player since 2002–03 to record a triple-double, and was named Western Conference Player of the Week.

He was again traded by the Rockets to Toronto Raptors in exchange of Gary Forbes. In his first season with the Raptors, he scored an average of 11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, though he played only in 52 out of the 68 games.
It was reported that Masai Ujiri, the new general manager of Raptors, believed that Lowry had to potential to be star and challenged him to be a better player, as at that time, Lowry's reputation was more about his history of clashing with coaches and his body language than his talent.
Following this, he went on to receive mentor-ship from Chauncey Billups, the world renowned retire professional basketball player who had played 17 seasons in the NBA. With all the advice and challenge from Ujiri and Billups, Lowry recalled entering the training camp healthy for the first time in several seasons.
He made his first appearance in the playoffs with the Raptors in the year 2014, and registered an impressive 21.1 points in average per game in seven games.
Following the 2013-2014 season, he became one of the most sought-after free agents in NBA, being actively courted by Miami Heat, Rockets, and several other teams. However, he ended up re-signing with the Raptors to a four-year, $48 million contract.
He first appeared in the NBA All-Star game in the year 2015 and then ensured to earn his spot in the game in the ensuing three years as well.
He became the first-time All-Star when announced as an Eastern Conference starter in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game on January 22, 2015, also becoming the third Raptor to be voted in as a starter, only after Vince Carter and Chris Bosh.
In the 116–107 win over the Dallas Mavericks on October 26, he scored 20 points and 12 assists, thus recording 10 or more assists for a career-best fourth straight game. This led to Lowry becoming the first Raptors player to accomplish the feat since José Calderón had five in a row in March 2012.
He met Ayahna Cornish, while studying at the Cardinal Dougherty high school. The duo got married and have two sons together.
He is known to have been a long-time critic of the current US president Donald Trump, and even compared the President to a six-year-old child. He referred to certain executive actions of the Trump administration as "Bullshit."