The Lakers signed for free agents on the first day of NBA free agency on Thursday. None of their names were exactly game changers, but will hopefully help the Lakers and head coach Darvin Ham in their quest to get younger and improve their defense. One of the signings was Juan Toscano-Anderson who spent three years with the Warriors.
JTA, an Oakland native, worked his way through the G-League as a member of the Santa Cruz Warriors and averaged 20 minutes a game during the Warriors back-to-back years of relative irrelevance.
After signing with the Lakers, Toscano-Anderson thanked the Warriors.
"All good things do come to an end-for new ones to start. #DubNation I can’t thank y’all enough. The experience I had at home was something I’ll never forget. So many things culminated from this experience, & I’m forever thankful!"
Toscano-Anderson did however note that he's excited for the next chapter with the Lakers.
"But with all that said, I’m extremely excited to be a Laker. New opportunities, new chapter of my life. The story is still being written!"
The undrafted 6'6" Castro Valley High School alum was a bench player during much of his career on the Warriors. Of his 139 games played, he started in just 28 of them. For his career, he's shot 36.1% from three and averaged 4.8 points per game.
He currently doesn't project as a starter for the Lakers, but the Rob Pelinka and the front office appear to banking on him being able to provide some quality minutes off the bench next season.
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