Ex-Warrior JTA, fueled by fatherhood, continues basketball journey

SANTA CRUZ – Juan Toscano-Anderson, sitting on the sidelines at Kaiser Permanente Arena, looks down at the inside of his left forearm gleaming with pride. The Oakland native and Warriors champion isn’t new to the court that kickstarted his road to Golden State. What is new is his latest ink in honor of his son that’s beginning to heal. 

“That’s at the top of my list, being a dad,” Toscano-Anderson told NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s the best thing I could have ever done. I’m glad that my son chose me to be his dad. He’s the best, he’s my baby goat. 

“I just got his name tattooed, ‘Jadyce The Greatest with a baby goat,’ because he’s the best thing to ever happen to me.” 

The 31-year-old is back at the home of the Santa Cruz Warriors as a member of the G League United for the G League Fall Invitational where an eclectic group of prospects and veterans alike will play BC Mega Mis of Serbia on Wednesday and Friday, the same club that the late former Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic coached future three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and current Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac.

At the conclusion of the United’s final practice before their first game, Toscano-Anderson skipped to center court and dapped up his teammates on his way to a huddle led by San Diego Clippers coach Paul Hewitt where he had the team break on “Dominate!” together. 

Toscano-Anderson easily is the leader of the group with the deepest pedigree. While others are looking to prove themselves for the first time, Toscano-Anderson is playing for something bigger as the current free agent also believes he still has plenty left to give on the court. Once the opportunity was presented to him, Toscano-Anderson jumped at the chance of coming back to Santa Cruz. 

Relentless defense. Diving for loose balls, even if it means putting his body on the line and crashing into the scorer’s table. Using his athleticism as a high-flier however it can help the team, and being an extra voice on the floor or the bench. All these traits have led to Toscano-Anderson’s improbable path to becoming a champion. 

And all will remain with him as long as he’s playing basketball. He also is quick to point out that he did shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range in his first full NBA season with the Warriors in 2020-21, but understands shooting always has been a knock on his game. Toscano-Anderson says he has worked relentlessly the past few months on his outside shot, specifically training with coach Phil Beckner in Phoenix and hopes to show consistency there to receive a training camp invite to a team. His contagious energy is sure to be seen, too. 

The sentimental aspect of these two games isn’t missed by him either. These fans are home to Toscano-Anderson. He earned a spot on Santa Cruz’s roster from an open tryout in 2018 and played 74 games for the Santa Cruz Warriors between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons prior to making his NBA debut for his hometown team at 26 years old on Feb. 8, 2020.

“When I left Santa Cruz and went up to Golden State I always said, ‘Man, I miss playing in Santa Cruz,’” he remembers. “I never knew if I’d get the opportunity to play here again. Now that I do, I just want to embrace it, enjoy it and just be in the moment.”

It has been more than four and a half years since Toscano-Anderson played a game in Santa Cruz, and six months since his last game action, which was with the Mexico City Capitanes of the G League. He signed with the Sacramento Kings nearly two months into the NBA season after playing 11 games for the Capitanes, and then played 11 more games for coach Mike Brown ahead of being waived in early January. 

That could have been a hindrance too hard to handle for many. But that’s not how the Castro Valley High School alum is built. A month and a half later, Toscano-Anderson was back in Mexico City where fans flocked to watch him play and his popularity surpassed those with the highest power in the entire country. 

Toscano-Anderson as a member of the Warriors in 2022 became the first Mexican-American champion in NBA history. Eighteen months later, his son attended his first game on Dec. 3, 2023, where in front of 13,561 fans at Mexico City Arena who revere Toscano-Anderson, he scored 29 points against the Austin Spurs. Those 29 points are more than he has scored in any of his 202 NBA games, as well as his 93 career games in the G League and the 121 games he played at Marquette. 

“You step into this business and you want to be a basketball player, but it comes with so much more,” Toscano-Anderson said. “You become a role model, you become an ambassador, you become all these other things. It’s cool to be a role model for kids, but it’s even cooler to be a role model for my own son.

“The biggest thing for me is when my kid grows up or he gets older, I want him to be proud when he says, ‘That’s my dad.’ That’s just how I look at it. I want to put on the best game I can when my son comes to see me play because I want to set a standard for him. … Averaging 15 points is cool, but I can average 25 if my dad averaged 15. Being an NBA champion is cool, but I can be a three-time NBA champion because my dad was an NBA champ. Or I can be an MVP or All-Star and so forth. 

“That’s just my perspective on it all. I just want to set a baseline standard for him, so that way he has things to attack and things he wants to accomplish as he gets older.”