“It’s tough,” P.J. Tucker said. “Hindsight is a mother.”

He’s a truth-teller, P.J. Tucker. The Toronto Raptors got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers and all of a sudden everything is in question, and after P.J. came Kyle Lowry. Kyle Lowry, bless him, is only occasionally a truth-teller, and he is at least truthful when he tells you that. It’s comforting, in a way, when the obfuscations come.

“I’m just being honest, only thing I’ve thought about is I’m going to opt out and that’s it,” said the Raptors all-star point guard, who is now a free agent. “That’s the only thing I’ve thought about.”

Lowry said that over and over, as part of the exit interviews for this 51-win playoff team that is suddenly grappling with existential questions as they pertain to its core players, its leadership, its current trajectory, and its success. Lowry, one of the most strategic thinkers in the NBA, insisted he has not contemplated his future beyond opting out of his contract and entering free agency. Sure.

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But he kept saying it, so we had to circle around to other things. Like, how much he’s grown in Toronto, where he arrived five years ago as a malcontent who kept losing starting jobs and has grown into a three-time all-star. How his relationship with coach Dwane Casey has gone up and down. How he wanted to beat LeBron James, even though he told Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski a few days ago that, “They’ve got LeBron James. Nobody’s closing the gap on him. I mean, that’s it right there.”

“We don’t have LeBron,” Lowry said Monday. “But I also said you have to do whatever it takes to beat the best. So whatever that takes. For me that takes getting better. It takes me getting some type of better. To beat the best you’ve got to be the best. I’m going to work harder to beat the best. That’s what I want to do, beat the best, whoever it is: the Warriors, the Cavs, whoever wins the championship this year, I want to do whatever it takes to beat them as a basketball player, to beat them.”

OK. But Lowry knows he is not a LeBron, so the real question is: What does he want? The Raptors can offer him a five-year contract that could total approximately US$200-million, but there are real concerns about his durability at age 31, and a five-year offer seems unlikely at this point. There are rumblings Philadelphia and Bryan Colangelo could be interested, but that doesn’t sound real yet. Some people point to San Antonio, but others say Gregg Popovich has other ideas. New York? They’re crazy enough for anything.

Asked what he wants, Lowry said, “A ring. Nothing else. I just want a ring.” Ask him if he can do that here, and he says, in typical Lowry fashion, “I think I can do that anywhere I play. That’s just how confident I am.”

Try that with the Knicks, see where it gets you.

Lowry wheeled around a lot of questions in that way: He left a lot of doors open, and there are people in the NBA who believe he wants something else. If the Raptors don’t offer the full five years their advantage disappears, and if Lowry — who notoriously attracts drama — takes that personally, the marriage could dissolve, which in turn could trigger a whole other set of franchise changes.

Sure, nobody thinks he and Casey have done anything other than paper over the cracks in their relationship. Yes, the organization knows that to commit to Lowry as your foundational star may be to become him: good, not great. They know him, and he knows them. There are no easy answers here. Nothing’s perfect.

But his good friend DeMar DeRozan is here. He has a leading role here. He has been embraced here. What would have to develop elsewhere — more years, more money, a different roster, warm weather — to beat that?

“You know what?” said Lowry, grinning and sparring. “That’s a good question. Haven’t thought about it, though. I’ve said that three times already. Four. That’ll be my fourth time. I’m gonna say it one more time. Only thing I’ve thought about is opting out. Which I will do. And getting better as a basketball player. Those two things. Wanna try again?”

The response, from one writer: Kyle, this is like when you say you watch basketball games and don’t analyze them with your big, smart basketball mind. Which, you claim to do all the time.

“Smart man over there,” Lowry said.

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Of course he has thought about it, because how could he not? Lowry knows this is the biggest payday of his career. He knows the Raptors don’t have a path past LeBron as currently constituted. And as a basketball savant, he knows DeRozan’s flaws — which, in fairness, keep diminishing — are a challenge. Lowry is said to pine for warmer weather, especially as he gets older. But then, don’t we all?

It’s a complex thing, because Lowry is a complex individual. He thrives on conflict, and has trouble trusting people, and he’s the best thing the franchise has. Lowry mentioned that free agency is stressful, because “you are making a franchise-altering decision, period.”

And he will be, either way. Hindsight is a mother, but figuring out the future can be worse.

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