Kyle Lowry retires as a Toronto Raptor and joins ownership group of WNBA’s Toronto Tempo

Kyle Lowry’s NBA career ended in Toronto, and his name now belongs to the city’s broader basketball future. On Tuesday, June 7, Lowry announced his retirement as a member of the Toronto Raptors, completing a 20-year run that began in the franchise’s early post-rebuild era and culminated with a championship at the peak.

The Raptors marked Lowry’s farewell with an on-the-record retirement announcement that included a one-day contract, a ceremonial move designed to close his playing career in Raptors colors. Lowry, who has been widely embraced by Toronto fans as the “GROAT,” also drew special attention for the franchise impact he left behind. According to reporting in the lead-up to the announcement, Lowry is the Raptors’ all-time leader in assists (4,277), steals (873), and 3-pointers made (1,518).

Lowry’s retirement message, delivered in a statement during the Raptors’ news setting, framed the end of his NBA chapter as a homecoming. “This is home, and Toronto will always be home. Together we built something special here, and together we became champions,” Lowry said, adding that he intended to retire as a Raptor. The quote matters less for its sentiment than for what it indicates about the way his off-court path appears to be taking shape.

Even as Lowry stepped away from the NBA, he did not step away from competition. The same day as his retirement announcement, it was reported and then confirmed by the Tempo that Lowry and his wife, Ayahna Cornish-Lowry, have joined the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo. The Tempo is the WNBA’s Toronto expansion team currently playing its first season, making the investment a continuation of Lowry’s long-standing connection to basketball in his home market.

The Tempo’s ownership group has been described publicly as including multiple high-profile investors. Reporting around the announcement also noted that Serena Williams is among those involved, along with former Raptors president Masai Ujiri and entertainment figures such as comedian Lilly Singh, plus billionaire Larry Tanenbaum. The presence of investors with both sports and media footprints underscores a common expansion-team goal in the WNBA: growing local relevance while building the infrastructure for long-term competitive stability.

Lowry’s wife also offered a statement explaining the timing and motivation of the ownership move. In reported remarks, Ayahna Cornish-Lowry said it felt like a “full circle moment” tied to the couple’s support of the WNBA “since day one,” and said the goal is to help build something special in Toronto while inspiring the next generation of women’s basketball athletes and fans.

For Raptors fans, the retirement closes one of the NBA’s signature point-guard tenures but also recontextualizes Lowry’s place in the organization’s story. For the Tempo, it adds an NBA championship résumé and a Toronto identity that could help the team accelerate fan engagement as the league expands. What to watch next is how quickly the Lowry-Cornish-Lowry involvement translates into basketball operations priorities, community programming, and the Tempo’s on-court development as expectations rise for a franchise finding its footing.

keyFacts