Kyle Lowry has reportedly signed a three-year, $ 85 million deal to join the Miami Heat in a signing-and-trade deal with the Toronto Raptors, according to Athletic’s Shams Charania. In return, the Raptors will receive Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa, the team announced Friday. Miami tried to land Lowry on the trade deadline, but couldn’t make a deal with the Raptors. Now, finally, it looks like they’ve landed their leader.

It’s not the only big step the Heat has taken since the start of free agency. They reportedly signed Jimmy Butler for a maximum contract extension that would pay him a total of $ 182 million over five years, according to Charania. Lowry and Butler are close friends, which has apparently given the Heat the edge on a crowded pitch. The Pelicans, Mavericks, Knicks, 76ers, and Lakers were all linked with Lowry at some point leading up to free agency, but Butler’s presence and a solid financial offer helped the Heat secure the player they were they had been coveting for months. There he will join Butler and Bam Adebayo as the new trio of Miami superstars.

The fact that the Heat were able to make this deal as a sign and trade has been very important for the rest of their offseason so far. This allowed the Heat to operate above salary, which allowed them to re-sign Duncan Robinson to a five-year, $ 90 million contract, according to Wojnarowski. They will also be able to use the mid-level exception for non-taxpayers on another significant free agent addition, provided they are able to keep the rest of the list below the cap of around $ 143 million. dollars.

For Toronto, Lowry’s departure represents the end of an era. He wasn’t as flashy as Vince Carter or as dominant as Kawhi Leonard, but Lowry is the most accomplished player in Raptors history. With him gone, the Raptors will have to re-equip themselves around young players like Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. Dragic could serve as an effective playmaker for the Raptors as they try to figure out what’s to come, while Achiuwa is exactly the kind of athletic forward the Raptors have developed well in recent years.

But with Lowry’s demise, all hope of reviving the 2019 Championship squad in one form or another is now lost. The Raptors will look like a new team going forward, while the Heat have firmly reinserted themselves into the Championship table with another major offseason move. With Butler now set to stay in Miami for years to come, the Heat are not going anywhere in a competitive Eastern Conference.