Early in the fourth quarter against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday, Kyle Lowry hit a three off of some terrific ball movement, cutting their deficit to eight.
It was a huge weight off for Lowry, who to that point was a career-worst 0-of-8 from outside (and 1-of-13 overall). It also marked Lowry’s 500th triple as a member of the Raptors, making him the fastest player in franchise history to that mark. Thursday is just Lowry’s 244th game with the organization, getting him to 500 faster than Vince Carter, Andrea Bargnani, and Morris Peterson, the only other Raptors with 500 makes. Lowry’s 2.05 trifectas per game ranks him fourth in the franchise record book and first among those with more than two seasons of service (Dee Brown, Walt Williams, and Mike James are ahead of him).
Lowry is close to moving into second on the team’s all-time 3-point list, trailing Carter by 54 and Bargnani by 79. Should Lowry finish out his current contract, he’d have a legitimate shot at Mo-Pete’s franchise record of 801 threes. Not the sharpest of shooters – he’s good, not great, despite a hot start to 2015-16 – Lowry ranks 26th among Raptors in 3-point percentage with the team, hitting at a 36.6-percent clip. If the threshold is moved from 100 attempts to 100 makes, he rises to 18th, just behind T.J. Ross.
But this Lowry note is far more about volume than efficiency. Lowry’s been efficient, to be clear, but he’s quickly carving out a place as one of the franchise’s premiere scorers and overall producers. He’s seventh in points per-game, fifth in assists per-game, fourth in steals per-game, second in Win Shares per-48 minutes, and so on. He’s also 106 assists from tying Damon Stouadmire for third all-time and 30 more from catching Alvin Williams for second.
Most importantly, he – along with DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, Patrick Patterson, and Ross – is set to rise to at least as high as eighth on the franchise’s all-time playoff games list. Each is at 11, and Antonio Davis is the only player to get to 20; Lowry’s excellence as one of the top-five Raptors of all time may soon lead to the organization’s second playoff series win. He’d surely tell you that’s a much higher priority than any number of threes.
(For his career, Lowry now has 809 threes, ranking 124th in NBA history.)
