The Toronto Raptors made a $31 million investment in the continuity of their culture, signing the only piece left over from the initial core of players in the Masai Ujiri regime. The one-year extension puts Kyle Lowry's contract at a hefty $64 million for the next two seasons as the organization banks on his veteran leadership providing for the young faces on the roster.

Lowry chose to bank on one more year of safety, aware that the 2020 free-agent class will come with its share of competition — pinning him along with Mike Conley Jr. (early termination option), Jeff Teague, Goran Dragic, Reggie Jackson, Dejounte Murray (restricted free agent), D.J. Augustin, and teammate Fred Van Vleet as the other available choices (h/t ESPN's Bobby Marks).

Raptors brass had reportedly been motivated to hammer out a deal with Lowry for months, but is this actually a smart signing?

The price tag alone says no, but the organization could change its course if it wanted to. Lowry is still eligible to be traded this season, as extensions do not fall under the six-month trade restriction that free agents are subject to.

Yet that $64 million owed over two years does put him in the same breath of a Chris Paul-like wind of older, undersized point guards making big-time money until their mid-30s — making any potential trade all the more difficult.

Toronto did not pay Lowry $31 million to then trade him. Front offices don't tack on more money on a contract to make him tradable, instead aiming for bargains. The Raptors want Lowry's leadership and his value as one of the pillars of the franchise.

The Lowry who showed up last season was far from the All-Star-caliber point man he was in years past, once again shying from scoring and buying into a pass-first mentality that hurt his shooting percentages greatly. While he did finish second in assists with 8.7 per game in 2018-19, the decline in his field goal percentage efficiency from his career-best 2016-17 season indicates that his best years might be past him. However, the Raptors are expecting to put him right back on the front lines and ask him to help groom Pascal Siakam into the future of the franchise, while playing a much more active role scoring.

The departure of Kawhi Leonard opens up this opportunity, allowing Lowry more shots and opportunities to have the ball in his hands as the primary playmaker and a secondary scorer with this team, which still boasts a large part of last season's championship core.

The price might be somewhat stiff, but it is a testament of how Raptors brass views Lowry as the quintessential leader of this culture under president Masai Ujiri. Despite this commitment, Toronto will still have $28 million in cap space for next season, per Marks — a large amount of which is expected to go toward a potential Siakam extension as the cornerstone player of the franchise.