The moment the Raptors traded DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard this summer, the questions that Kyle Lowry would face were known. The fans knew them, the media knew them, and Lowry himself surely knew exactly what he was going to be facing, whether it was at Team USA basketball camp, at Raptors training camp, or as the season progresses. Whether the Raptors succeed or struggle, whether the Spurs succeed or struggle, whether Leonard or DeRozan or Lowry himself has a great season or not, those questions aren’t going anywhere. The tone of them might change, the structure might adjust, but they’ll always be asked and he’ll always have to be thinking about that context this season.

The only variable possible here, the only thing that could possibly change surrounding all of this, is how Lowry responds to those questions. Not on the court, where he’s been nothing but a professional and shown no signs of any different, but in those interviews. There are, generally speaking, three ways he can answer those questions, and let’s explore how, were he to handle it in different ways, how that would impact not just him, but everyone else around this situation.

Go out of his way to defend DeRozan

First of all, he could come out and be angry with the trade. There has been enough speculation that he’s not happy with his best friend being traded, and I’m sure on some level that’s true. We all like being around people who we love, and the bromance between Lowry and DeMar is well documented and has been one of the NBA’s most fun stories in recent years. It was great to see them grow into their games together, and build something special in Toronto, and win a lot of games. It’s certainly possible that Lowry’s initial reaction to the trade was one of anger, feeling like he’d lost one of his biggest ties to the Raptors organization, and DeRozan clearly felt he was treated wrongly by the Raptors in their handling of the trade and of him during the summer.

Kyle could’ve come out and told the media that the Raptors did DeRozan dirty, but if he’d done so, first of all, it would’ve kept the story going for DeMar. It would’ve prevented him from being able to move on with his new team, because with every Lowry comment on the situation, it would be a new round of questioning for DeMar in San Antonio, and a new round of speculation on how the Raptors handled things poorly with him.

At the same time, Kawhi Leonard would then be coming into a situation with the Raptors where he’s the new guy, replacing a fan favorite and the face of the franchise, and he’s always been a quiet player around the media. For him to come in and be facing constant questions about how his new teammate isn’t happy about him being there would poison the well from the start, and prevent Lowry from building a new relationship there. It would put the Raptors in a position where they would have to consider blowing up the team, moving one of the two players out to try to save the season and to build something moving forward past that, and it would’ve soured Lowry’s relationship with the Raptors fans, as well.

Whether or not answering the questions surrounding the trade this way would’ve been honest, and maybe we’ll never know if it would’ve been, it wouldn’t have been tenable, either for Lowry trying to do the best for his friend who is trying to move on in a new city, or for his team trying to win. It would’ve thrown everyone else under the bus for him to express frustrations, and wouldn’t have helped him in the process either.

Go out of his way to be excited

The Raptors brought in one of the best basketball players in the world in Leonard. As good as DeRozan was, this trade clearly improved the ceiling of the team, and made them into a team that has the ceiling of a true contender. Lowry is a smart guy who understands all of this, and moreover, he made comments after his free agency about having considered going to the Spurs prior to coming back to Toronto, had the Spurs had interest. Surely getting to play alongside Leonard would’ve been one of the selling points of San Antonio, so it’s definitely reasonable to say that Lowry understands the potential of playing beside Leonard.

From the perspective of how these comments would impact others, if Lowry had come out and said he loved the team that Masai Ujiri had built, it would’ve only helped his relationships with Leonard and fellow newcomer Danny Green as well, it would’ve been a clear sign that he was welcoming them into the locker room, and it would’ve gone over well with the fans. In Toronto, this would’ve been purely a win on the PR front. Perhaps would’ve even impacted preseason projections for the Raptors, as there wouldn’t be nearly as many questions about how the locker room can be cohesive at this point in the process.

That’s not Lowry’s nature, really, though. He’s always been a little surly with the media, and a bit of a prickly personality.

Also, there is a downside here, and from Lowry’s perspective, that downside would be a fairly large one. In San Antonio, every time that Lowry came out and said how excited he was about Leonard being his new teammate, DeRozan would get a question about what that comment said about him. DeMar would spend his season answering whether his best friend was insulting him with every Leonard compliment, and it would cast a cloud over DeMar’s attempts to move on to his new situation and build something there.

This again, might’ve been an honest response from Lowry. He clearly knows how good Leonard is, and there are reports he was unhappy with DeRozan’s defense in the playoffs last year. The basketball logic behind the trade from the Raptors perspective is sound, and it’s a safe assumption Kyle can see that. In this case again though, it would’ve caused collateral damage that he might’ve seen as unworkable.

Avoid answering the questions altogether

This has largely been Lowry’s response thus far, to give questions that don’t make his feelings on it clear. Talk about how he’s excited to play basketball, how DeRozan will be his friend for life, and how the new guys are his teammates and he has their back. Short answers that don’t speak to his feelings on the trade itself.

There’s some downside here, sure, in that Lowry ends up looking disgruntled(although that has been his default state with the media in the past, and is, again, just part of who he is), and there is speculation about whether he’ll be a problem for the Raptors, but he takes that on himself with this approach. He’ll face ongoing questions about this as the season goes on, but success answers those itself.

Lowry’s approach isn’t necessarily an honest one, or a dishonest one, because for it to be either would require answering the questions that he’s not answering, and for the media, that doesn’t serve to answer the questions. It doesn’t create the drama itself, so Lowry has become the drama through his lack of answers. But that act makes sense. It takes the attention away from Leonard to some extent, who gets to build new relationships in the locker room, and away from DeRozan, who gets to focus on his new team in Texas, and it focuses that on Kyle.

Perhaps as the season goes on this changes, maybe if the Raptors struggle Lowry voices his displeasure with the move, but if he had done so initially it would’ve made it harder for them to find success, and harder for the Raptors as a locker room to move on from last year’s team and embrace this new team. Maybe if the Raptors find success Kyle will speak to having been excited about Leonard from the start, but if he does that after the success, he gives DeRozan the space to have already moved on to his new story with the Spurs, and he doesn’t prevent his friend from creating something new.

That dynamic might make the way Kyle is answering these questions currently the most honest answer for him, based on what we’ve learned about him in his years in Toronto. He’s committed to having the back of the guys in his locker room, and he’s committed to the people he cares about.