Kyle Lowry delivered on his final promise as a player: He long vowed to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors so he could retire as a member of that franchise.
And on Tuesday, he made it happen.
Lowry — one of 12 players in NBA history to play 20 seasons in the league — announced on social media that he is signing with the Raptors and will retire, ending his career with the team that he helped lead to the 2019 NBA championship and in the city that he considers home.
It's a ceremonial one-day contract, and Lowry confirmed that plan before a scheduled news conference in Toronto later Tuesday. The date of the announcement — July 7, or 7/7 — is a clear nod to the No. 7 jersey he wore with the Raptors.
“Thank you to my family, my friends, my teammates, my coaches, my opponents, the staff, the media and especially the fans,” Lowry said. “It's all about you. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you, Toronto. Thank you, Canada. And as I always told y'all, it's officially happening. I'm retiring as a Toronto Raptor — 20 years and one day."
Tributes immediately starting pouring in after Lowry posted the video, many paying homage to the player whom Toronto fans call the GROAT — the Greatest Raptor of All-Time.
The 40-year-old Lowry is a Philadelphia native who played in college for Villanova before entering the NBA in 2006. For now, he's one of only two point guards to play 20 seasons — Chris Paul is the other, and Mike Conley Jr. will join that list this season.
Lowry ended his playing career in his actual hometown, spending this past season with the 76ers and appearing in 14 games. He formally called it a career in the city that he considers home, Toronto, the place where he became both an All-Star and a champion.
Lowry is a six-time All-Star, with all of those appearances coming during his stint in Toronto. He won an Olympic gold medal with the United States at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, was an All-NBA selection in 2015-16 and had a new job even before his playing days ended; he was announced last year as an analyst for Prime Video.
Lowry was the No. 24 pick in the 2006 NBA draft by Memphis. He also played for Houston and Miami, along with the 76ers and Raptors. He averaged 13.8 points and six assists per game, and his 2,209 made 3-pointers ranks 14th in NBA history.
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FILE - Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry celebrates his 3-point basket against the New Orleans Pelicans during overtime in an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, file)
PARIS (AP) — A Paris appeals court cleared the way Tuesday for popular far-right leader Marine Le Pen to possibly run for the French presidency next year but said she must wear an electronic bracelet after finding her guilty of embezzling public funds.
Le Pen has previously said that campaigning with a bracelet wouldn't be possible. But she now has the option of changing her mind, in light of the verdict that her lawyer described as a partial victory.
“It's a good start,” said the lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut.
The court ruled that Le Pen had led misuse by her National Rally party of European Parliament funds by paying party staff with money intended for EU parliamentary assistants. She denied any criminal wrongdoing but said the party had made a “mistake.”
The appeals court upheld guilty verdicts for all 11 accused, including Marine Le Pen, other party members and the party itself. However, it scaled back the punishments for her and her co-accused handed down by a lower court last year.
Crucially for her presidential ambitions, it reduced her ban on holding elected office. From five years handed down in March 2025, the ban was cut to 45 months, two-thirds of which are suspended. Because Le Pen has already served 15 months of the ban since last year's first verdict, that potential obstacle to what would be her fourth presidential run is now effectively removed.
The verdict also cut her prison sentence. It was four years, two of which were suspended, last year. Now it's three years, two of which are suspended.
Still, the remaining year of prison time, to be served at home with an electronic bracelet, remains a potential hurdle and it’s not immediately clear whether Le Pen feels she can campaign with that condition.
Le Pen, 57, left the court room without addressing waiting television cameras. But she's expected to share her thoughts later Tuesday, in an evening television interview.
Before the verdict, Le Pen had said that if the court imposes constraints that make campaigning difficult, she might decide not to run. That could include electronic monitoring, she had said.
“If I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible,” Le Pen said in an interview last week.
If she decides that she cannot run with a bracelet, her protege Jordan Bardella would replace her. Bardella, 30, is the current president of the anti-immigration National Rally party that Le Pen previously led.
From the courthouse, Le Pen went the National Rally's headquarters in Paris, where Bardella was seen earlier in the day. The party faces a potentially difficult decision choosing which of the two might be best placed to run in 2027.
Bardella, a European Parliament lawmaker, lacks her experience and it would be his first presidential election campaign. But while Le Pen is a seasoned veteran, the bracelet makes it uncertain how effectively she could campaign. That and her embezzlement conviction would also leave her open to criticism from her potential election opponents.
Chief judge Michèle Agi said in her verdict Tuesday that Le Pen’s party embezzled 2.8 million euros ($3.2 million), by using European Parliament funds to pay its own party employees.
“The facts are serious,” the judge said.
The judge had been expected to spend several hours reading out the full verdict. But instead, the proceedings were over surprisingly quickly, in well under an hour.
The court room, without air conditioning, became uncomfortably hot as the judge spoke, with temperatures in Paris climbing past 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). Table fans provided a slight breeze.
Prosecutors had asked the appeals court to sentence Le Pen to four years in prison, including three suspended, in addition to a ban on holding elected office for five years.
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Associated Press journalists Nicolas Vaux-Montagny, in Paris, and Samuel Petrequin, in London, contributed to this report.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves the courtroom after the verdict of her appeal trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves the courtroom after the verdict of her appeal trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for the verdict of her appeals trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for the verdict of her appeals trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for the verdict of her appeals trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courtroom for the verdict of her appeals trial, in Paris, France, Tuesday, July. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Far-right party National Rally president Jordan Bardella speaks during a rally in Lievin, northern France, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Far-right party National Rally president Jordan Bardella is embraced by far-right leader Marine Le Pen at a rally in Lievin, northern France, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
FILE - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen delivers her speech during the French far-right party national rally near the parliament in Paris, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
FILE - Far-right leader Marine Le Pen walks outside the courtroom during a short break in her appeals trial in Paris, on Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
