Lowry's No. 7 Goes to the Rafters on January 10

The Raptors announced Wednesday that they will retire Kyle Lowry's No. 7 on January 10 against Philadelphia — the 76ers, fittingly, given that Lowry came up through that organization before becoming the defining figure of Toronto's franchise. It will be only the second number retired in Raptors history. Lowry signed a one-day contract in July to retire as a Raptor, and the organization has now scheduled a full weekend of events around the ceremony.

The timing is what it is. By January 10, the Raptors will be somewhere in the middle of their first season built around Kawhi Leonard — assuming the NBA clears that trade before opening night. The banner going up for the player who anchored the 2019 championship will go up in a building where the roster looks nothing like it did then, where Ingram is in Los Angeles, where Gradey Dick is in Los Angeles, where two unprotected first-round picks are spoken for. The franchise that Lowry carried is not the franchise that exists now.

None of that diminishes the night. Lowry spent the better part of a decade making Toronto a basketball city, and the "Greatest Raptor of All Time" designation the organization is using is not a stretch. January 10 will be a good evening at Scotiabank Arena regardless of what the standings say.

What happens the other 81 nights is the open question I keep writing about. The ceremony is set. Everything else still isn't.