Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry revealed that he didn’t hear Heat president Pat Riley’s challenge for him to lose weight in the offseason.
“I didn’t even hear the comments,” Lowry said Monday of Riley’s public challenge in June. “Someone else told me about ‘em.”
Lowry spent his first season with the Heat in the 2021-22 campaign. The Heat are famous for their standards of conditioning, and it appeared Riley would like to see Lowry improve in that area heading into his second season with the franchise.
The six-time All-Star didn’t seem too worried about Riley’s challenge, explaining that he takes it upon himself to be motivated.
“It’s whatever,” Lowry said. “Honestly, he has his opinion. Right? Everyone has their opinion and it doesn’t do anything for me. All I do is motivate myself, I always motivate myself.”
Lowry ended up with the Heat in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Raptors last offseason. He helped the Heat reach the Eastern Conference Finals, but he also dealt with an injury that limited him in the playoffs.
Lowry took a bit of a step back as a scorer last season, averaging just 13.4 points per game, but he is a proven playmaker and a leader for the Heat in the backcourt. However, he did average 7.5 assists per game last season, which was important to Miami’s offensive success.
It’s possible that Riley’s challenge was simply a way to motivate Lowry to be even better in the 2022-23 season, but it doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect on the veteran guard.
The Heat started Lowry in all 63 games he appeared in during the 2021-22 regular season. When Lowry was out of the lineup, guard Gabe Vincent was usually the player called upon to take his spot in the lineup.
Vincent, an impressive defender, averaged 8.7 points, 3.1 assists and shot 36.8 percent from beyond the arc in the 2021-22 campaign.
Despite the challenge, Lowry revealed that he kept his same offseason regiment in preparation for the 2022-23 season.
“No,” Lowry said when asked if he did anything different this offseason. “I spent my summer doing everything I usually do every single summer. I don’t change what I do. I go out there and create my own environment and come back and do my jobs at the highest level.”
The Heat finished the 2021-22 season with the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and made the Eastern Conference Finals. They are hoping Lowry can help lead them back to the NBA Finals with a similar roster back for this season.