Juan Toscano-Anderson left his hometown team in free agency, seeking a more prominent role elsewhere. Don't feel too bad for the Oakland native, though. Not only did Toscano-Anderson grow up idolizing Kobe Bryant, but he has the incredibly rare of luxury of going from playing with one GOAT to another—and plans on taking full advantage of it with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaking with team reporter Mike Bresnahan in wake of his signing with the Lakers, Toscano-Anderson went out of his way to laud the influence of former Golden State Warriors teammate Steph Curry in the same breath as expressing wide-eyed excitement at teaming with LeBron James.
“I really appreciate being able to play with Steph, it's not every day that you get to be around greatness in any facet. People don't get to do that every day and I appreciated that every day,” he said. “Now I get the opportunity to play with, in my opinion, the best player to ever basketball. I don't know what that's going to feel like yet. I know it's going to be amazing, I know it's going to be very motivating and uplifting. And it's going to be very challenging of course. What I appreciated about Steph was that he led by example and I wanted to be great like him. I already want to be great like LeBron. I wanted to be great like LeBron when I was a kid.”
.@juanonjuan10 chats with @Mike_Bresnahan about joining the #Lakers, being able to play with @KingJames and his title run with the Warriors. pic.twitter.com/jXYgNi2jgI
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) July 7, 2022
Toscano-Anderson played a bit role for Golden State last season after cementing himself worthy of an NBA roster spot in 2020-21. Undrafted in 2015, he played three seasons in South America before joining the Warriors' G-League affiliate, where he first caught the eye of general manager Bob Myers and Golden State's front office. The 29-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Lakers on the opening day of free agency.
Expect Toscano-Anderson to provide Los Angeles with quality depth at forward it lacked during a disastrous 2021-22 season. At 6'6′ with long arms and a sturdier frame than his weight suggests, Toscano-Anderson has the physical tools to check multiple positions defensively and thrive as a finisher in transition and the halfcourt.
His ceiling with the Lakers will no doubt come down to long-range shooting. Toscano-Anderson hit just 28.6% of his catch-and-shoot triples last season after connecting on 43.8% of his attempts on similarly low volume one year prior, per NBA.com/stats.
Either way, Toscano-Anderson is poised make his presence felt with the purple-and-gold, reveling in the opportunity to take what he learned from Curry and apply it to playing with James and the Lakers.
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