I want it on the record that everything I am about to say is with all due respect to the incredibly successful, two-decade long career of Kyle Lowry.
The Philadelphia-native and Villanova University graduate is about to enter his 20th season in the NBA. He was the 24th overall pick back in 2006 who has gone on to win an Olympic gold medal with the United States (2016), an NBA championship (2019 with the Toronto Raptors) and earned six career All-Star nods along the way. Lowry is 13th in the history
of the league in career three-pointers made with 2,205.
With all of that being said and all the flowers in the world given for these past achievements, we must now look forward to 2025-26 campaign ahead of us. This season, the Sixers should hope that Lowry is nowhere near the playing floor (except maybe in the final minutes of blowouts).
The fact is simple—Lowry is no longer physically able to meaningfully compete in the NBA at this point in his career. With his 40th birthday coming up in March 2026, age has just caught up to him, taking with it the skills and abilities that allowed him to prosper for two decades in the NBA despite standing just six foot flat. The explosiveness, the movement and the endurance have given way… I guess there’s probably a reason there aren’t many players still in the association into their 40s.
The issues were clearly evident for Lowry last season. He played in 35 games total, his lowest since his rookie season in which he played 10 games for the Memphis Grizzlies back in 2006-07. He averaged just 3.9 points, shooting 35% from the floor with 1.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game—the lowest marks in each category he’s posted in his long NBA career. Lowry’s season essentially ended on Feb. 9 due to a nagging hip issue. It wasn’t pretty.
What did come of it, however, was the emergence of “Coach Lowry”. With the Sixers roster in shambles for the late months of last season, Lowry was seen on multiple occasions, often mid-game, coaching the rest of the squad in plain clothes. He couldn’t play for months, but he was there every night. It was a mentorship that was noted and complimented by his Sixers’ teammates.
That is much more likely what the Sixers expect of him this upcoming season, rather than making direct meaningful impact on the court.
Now, the decision to use one of just 15 roster spots on a veteran presence turned player-coach has garnered mixed reactions at best from fans. The decision to use yet another roster slot on Eric Gordon, in a similar boat as Lowry and turning 37 this December, made things even more questionable for some. I think some level of questioning of making not one but both of those moves is more than fair.
But all of this is to say, I believe the Sixers signed Lowry with the full expectation that his main contributions to the team won’t be on the playing floor. He is now a wealth of firsthand player knowledge and experience for a slew of young Sixers, something that might be in high demand on the roster if Joel Embiid and Paul George are unable to go due to their respective injury issues.
The bottom line is that, if Lowry is on the floor for any meaningful minutes for the Sixers this season, it likely means things have already completely derailed for the team…
Though, that is a possibility that can almost never be ruled out with this franchise.
