San Francisco, CA – The Bay Area is full of culture, and that's part of what makes the Golden State Warriors special. When the team signed Juan Toscano-Anderson, the Dubs added some of that culture to the organization.
JTA was born and raised in Oakland, California, a place where not too many succeed. Legends like Gary Payton and Jason Kidd came from the town, but Damian Lillard was the one who showed Toscano-Anderson he could make it to basketball's biggest stage.
Juan Toscano-Anderson on his relationship with Damian Lillard: "I’ve known Dame since I was a kid. Seeing him make it to the league gave me inspiration that I could as well. Seeing somebody from my section from Oakland, it's special." pic.twitter.com/IINu8CmoPv
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) November 27, 2021
“What he's done in this league for himself, for Oakland, for guys like myself. I’ve known Dame since I was a kid. Seeing him make it to the league gave me inspiration that I could as well. Seeing somebody from my section from Oakland, it's special,” the Warriors forward told ClutchPoints.
Lillard is a few years older than Toscano-Anderson, but they came from the same umbrella just years apart. Both played for the same AAU team and shared the same coaches as kids. Now they are in the NBA and playing each other in front of a Bay Area crowd.
Listen to Klay Thompson talking about a winning championship:
“It's a lot of fun. That’s something that I don’t take for granted. As I said, we’re like family, so that stuff we’ll talk about at Christmas, when we get together for BBQs in the summer, and so forth. It's really cool, man. I'm sure the family enjoys it as well in Oakland also,” Toscano-Anderson said.
The Warriors got the best of the Blazers Friday night. They defeated their division rivals by double digits 118-103, improving their record to a league-best 17-2.
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