Lowry’s return scheduled for Feb. 3

Raptors fans are going to have to wait awhile before welcoming franchise icon Kyle Lowry back to Toronto.

Lowry and the Miami Heat won’t visit Scotiabank Arena until Feb. 3, according to the NBA schedule released Friday.

Lowry, who spent nine seasons with the Raptors and left as a free agent this summer, is generally considered the greatest player in franchise history. His first game against his old team will be in Miami on Jan. 17.

The Raptors haven’t played a game at Scotiabank Arena since February 2019, spending all of last season in Tampa, Fla., because of border concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

There has still been no official agreement struck with all levels of government to allow the Raptors to play in Toronto but it is incomprehensible today that they will have to face another full 82-game season on the road.

“We have not looked elsewhere, we are not going to look elsewhere, we’re playing at home; we’re trying to play at home,” Raptors president and vicechairman Masai Ujiri said this week. “That’s the goal for us.

“I told Larry (Tanenbaum, the team’s minority owner) and (NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver) and even Prime Minister Trudeau that playing away set us back a couple of years and we know that, we are ready for that challenge. Playing another year somewhere else will set us back five years. We are trying not to do that.”

The Raptors will open the season at home Oct. 20 against the Washington Wizards and end it April 10 in New York against the Knicks.

Other highlights:

> DeMar DeRozan visits with the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 25, the third home game of the season.

> In a bit of a disappointment, the NBA will mark the 75th anniversary of its first game on Nov. 1 by having the Raptors play in New York.

The Knicks and Toronto Huskies played the inaugural game in Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946.

> The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks play at Toronto on Dec. 2.

> Danny Green, a member of the 2019 NBA champion team here, should finally get his ring before a Philadelphia-Toronto game on Dec. 29

> Toronto ends the season by playing eight of its final 10 games at home.

> The longest homestand is seven games from Nov. 28 to Dec. 13; the Raptors have two six-game road trips.