Masai Ujiri didn’t blink. And Kyle Lowry was fine with it.
Faced with an unenticing collection of offers for the longest serving and beating heart of the Toronto Raptors, Ujiri decided to keep Lowry for at least the rest of this year, easing into an eventual roster transition rather than going whole hog in this oddest of NBA seasons.
The team president did make a few moves — most notably jettisoning veteran Norm Powell to the Portland Trail Blazers for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood — but he resisted all offers on Lowry, seen as the centrepiece of trade deadline day across the league.