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Toronto Raptors stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are very close and love hanging out together quite a bit, even when using transportation.
The two All-Stars revealed how they didn’t usually travel with the team to practices when on the road, but took their own route whenever they wanted. In fact, they’ve gotten fully involved with the way technology works now, and chose to ride Uber to and from the team hotel which gave them a little extra time to prepare themselves for games and rest.
Riding separately seemed to work for the pair just fine, but Lowry told ESPN’s Nick Friedell once the Raptors took time to evaluate the risks, they decided to shut it down and no longer permit players to travel without the team, whether it’s Uber, Lyft or any other taxi service.
“It’s a rule they put in for our team, It’s part of the cultural reset. We’re just trying to make sure we’re all on the same page, so we understand it. It wasn’t dangerous, nothing ever happened to us. We used to walk back from Cleveland’s arena during the (2016) Eastern Conference finals. It was fun while it lasted.”
The Raptors are doing better than they ever have, and have recently enjoyed the most success within the last four-years that the franchise ever has led by the Lowry/DeRozan backcourt.
It only makes sense to build on that momentum, and Raptors management was thinking of doing just that after last years Eastern Conference playoffs elimination. One of the most important things the team brass noticed and wants to model was the culture of the San Antonio Spurs, which has produced a winning formula over the past 19 years. The Raptors are already in the midst of making those changes and have to continue to commit to sharing the ball and keeping everyone on the same page including traveling on the team bus.
DeRozan doesn’t seem bothered by the transportation change as he recalled some of his Uber stories. Some drivers vented to the stars trashing the team while not knowing who they were venting to, and other times they’d still arrive at the hotel at the same time as the team bus.
Maybe riding on the team bus isn’t so bad after all.