Jeff Zillgitt

USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO – Toronto Raptors All-Star guard Kyle Lowry was ready to pack his bags and contact a real estate agent in December of 2013. He thought Toronto was trading him to the New York Knicks.

“That deal was done,” Lowry told USA TODAY Sports about a trade that would’ve sent him to the Knicks, and the Raptors would have received Metta World Peace, Iman Shumpert and a future first-round draft pick.

Imagine Lowry as the Knicks’ point guard, which is exactly what they need.

But the Knicks killed the deal, at the request of Knicks owner James Dolan, according to people familiar with the situation. Dolan was smarting from a deal with then-Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri, who traded Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks for a handful of valuable assets. Dolan was worried Ujiri, now Toronto’s GM, was getting the best of the Knicks again.

Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry finds home in Toronto

It was also a pivotal point in the direction of Ujiri’s Raptors. Two weeks earlier, he had traded Rudy Gay to Sacramento and was ready to trade Lowry to the Knicks. Toronto was on the verge of a rebuild.

Instead, the Raptors kept Lowry, made the playoffs that season, last season and are now in second place in the East.

“At the end of the day, the decision was made for me to be here and it worked out equally, perfectly for both parties,” said Lowry who is in the second year of four-year, $48 million contract.

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.

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