9:52pm: Spears has retracted his report and says that he was duped by someone posing as a Raptors exec (Twitter link).
9:38pm: Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter) hears that the Raptors will offer a deal worth $14.5MM per year to Kyle Lowry after free agency officially opens early Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) continues to hear that the offer will carry an average annual value of $12MM per season.
We heard earlier today that some in the Raptors organization are concerned that teams will make offers to Lowry that they’ll be unable to match, but an AAV of $14MM+ could scare every other suitor away. The Rockets and Heat are known to be rather fond of the point guard after he had a career resurgence in Toronto last season. Whether it’s $12MM or $14.5MM a year, it sounds like the Raptors have every intention of keeping their point guard for next season and beyond.
Ouch. This WILL backfire.
Gotta overpay to keep him from going to the lakers/rockets/heat