37-year-old Kyle Lowry signed, expected to be key bench player

PHILADELPHIA — Newly signed Sixers guard Kyle Lowry, 37, is the fourth-oldest player in the NBA, which is useful if you’re trying to add the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award to a resume with say, six All-Star appearances like the point guard who grew up in North Philly.

Only LeBron James (39 years old), P.J. Tucker (38 years, 288 days) and Chris James (38 years, 284) are older. And that’s not necessarily a good thing because LBJ is making a difference, the veteran averaging 24.8 points for the Los Angeles Lakers while the others are trying to stay relevant.

Lowry is so old he played games at Villanova in the long-ago demolished Spectrum. The Sixers aren’t asking Lowry to turn back the clock, much less keep up with point guards Tyrese Maxey and Cameron Payne, who almost literally can fly. And he certainly isn’t going to start.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse, who five years ago hoisted the Larry O’Brien championship with Lowry for the Toronto Raptors, stated Wednesday that Lowry would be a backup.

“He gives us another ball handler, backup point guard, second point guard, whatever you want to say with that,” Nurse said before the Sixers opposed the Miami Heat at the Wells Fargo Center. “He’s got some three-point shooting and he’s got some very good defensive knowledge, especially team defense and schematically. We certainly needed a little more ball handling and we’ve got a couple of extras now so that’s good.”

What Lowry has an abundant supply of is not just experience, but playoff experience, having played in 130 games with 95 starts. Maxey and Payne have 29 combined playoff starts.

The signing of Lowry to a $2.8 million contract for the rest of the season means the skepticism over Joel Embiid’s possible return from a meniscus repair for the postseason is just that.

Nurse already knows what he’s going to do during his All-Star break. That would be fitting the pieces around his MVP-rated center. Let’s see, there’s three-point sniper Buddy Hield, forward Nico Batum, Tobias Harris (hip), De’Anthony Melton (back), Kelly Oubre …

“I’ve got a few days off coming up where I can process all that,” said Nurse, who deserved more than a few smirks for using the P word Embiid throws around as a punchline. “I think we’re going to get four or five guys back after the All-Star break at practice on Tuesday. So, I mean that will give me a chance to look at it a little bit and see how it all plays out. I think you’ve got a pretty good group there with Tyrese and Buddy, and Nico, Tobias and Joel. Then you’ve got to figure out where everybody else goes. I mean we could end up with Melts still in there. Kyle’s in there now, for sure. Kelly is still in there for sure. So, if we get everybody back and healthy, we should have options to play big and small, and we’ve got a lot more shooting on the floor, too.”

Lowry wasn’t at the Heat game, which made sense in that Miami traded him and a first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Terry Rozier, who was having a stellar season but could be sidelined until March with a knee injury. Lowry didn’t play for the Hornets, who agreed to buy out his contract.

Miami coach Eric Spoelstra said he enjoyed collaborating with Lowry and that the veteran in his 20th season would bring “Veteran leadership, toughness and the playoff experience.

“He has a bunch of playoff games under his belt, and he knows how to impact winning, for sure,” Spoelstra said. “He still has talent. When we first acquired him, I said the thing about Kyle is you evaluate him by how the team does. And basically, everywhere he’s been for the last decade-plus he’s been able to impact winning with organizations. And he did that for us. The results speak for themselves. We didn’t accomplish our ultimate goal, but there were a lot of playoff wins and he played a big part in all of that.”

Lowry’s management agency put out a highlight video with footage from the player’s high school days at Cardinal Dougherty and Northeast High, and his collegiate career with Villanova. The Spectrum was in the background. It might be a while before he plays, the Sixers giving him time to ramp up. But it was fairly clear that Philly was his kind of place despite the role. Nurse confirmed that Lowry had options.

“I think he had lots of people talking to him,” Nurse said. “I think this ended up in his mind being the best fit for him.”