NBA Analyst Highlights The Unique Path Of Kyle Lowry
Oftentimes, when an All-Star ends up winning an NBA championship, he starts out his career with a bang and quickly establishes himself as a stud.
But there are a few such players who had to take the road less traveled.
One such player is Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry, who will be playing for his second world title starting on Thursday when his team faces the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
Analyst Ben Stinar outlined how unlikely a star Lowry became.
Kyle Lowry has a chance to be a 6x All-Star and 2x NBA Champion
Crazy facts:
24th pick in NBA Draft
Wasn’t a full time starter till his 5th season
He didn’t make his first All-Star Game till 28 yrs old
Didn’t win NBA Championship till 32 pic.twitter.com/hEbPJK9Wyk
— Ben Stinar (@BenStinar) May 30, 2023
Lowry is just six-feet tall, which is somewhat tall in the real world but is considered squirrel-like in the world of pro basketball.
After two unspectacular years at Villanova University, the Philadelphia native was the No. 24 pick in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies.
Midway through his third season, he was shipped off to the Houston Rockets, where he continued to be viewed as nothing more than a decent backup point guard.
But he started to average double-digits in scoring in the 2010-11 campaign, and four years later, as a member of the Toronto Raptors, he finally made his first All-Star team.
With Lowry becoming a stud, the Raptors gradually improved, and when they traded for Kawhi Leonard prior to the 2018-19 season, they finally got over the hump.
Lowry was a key member of their championship team that year, averaging 14.2 points and 8.7 assists a game in the regular season.
He showed his age during this regular season with Miami, to the point where he lost his starting job, but in the playoffs he has been a solid contributor off the bench for them.
Now he will have a shot at his second ring.