The Golden State Warriors don’t have much to report on building their own team for this season. In the meantime, a former Warriors player has found a new team, as beloved role player Juan Toscano-Anderson has gone overseas to continue his career.

There was something special about the end of the 2020-21 season for the Golden State Warriors. They went on a 15-5 run to end the year, and while they lost two agonizing Play-In Games to miss the playoffs, that run unlocked something for the team. They captured that vision and built a roster to support it, and they came back the next year and won the title.

A key part of that 15-5 run was the energetic and joy-filled play of Juan Toscano-Anderson. Already a fan favorite because of his activism and work in the Oakland community as a lifelong native, his play as a role player on that team endeared him forever to Warriors fans. He never played a large role, averaging just 4.8 points and 17.1 minutes per game over three seasons in the Bay, but everyone inside and outside the organization loved having him around.

Toscano-Anderson’s NBA career did not extend much beyond that point, as his 3-point shot abandoned him after signing a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was ultimately relegated to being dumped into the D’Angelo Russell trade by the Lakers and ping-ponged around the league for the next few months.

Last year, he played in the G League for the Mexico City Capitanes, a homecoming of sorts for the Mexican-American. He averaged 17.2 points per game, second on the team, and filled up the stat sheet with 7.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.4 combined steals and blocks and just under two 3-pointers per game.

Juan Toscano-Anderson has a new team

While his play didn’t result in an NBA contract, it did open up opportunities for him overseas. Earlier in August, he signed a contract with Pallacanestro Trieste of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, the top league in Italy. Last season a team led by former NBA player Denzel Valentine won the level-2 title and elevated Pallacanestro to the top league.

Now they add Toscano-Anderson to further bolster their roster. Elevation comes with increased resources comes with an increased capacity to add top-tier talent, that band of players who are not quite good enough to stick in the NBA but can help European teams compete at a high level. The fans in Trieste are in for a treat on multiple levels, as few players compete harder than Toscano-Anderson, nor infect an entire organization with quite so much joy.

Warriors fans will now have someone to root for in European basketball play. It’s unlikely that Toscano-Anderson will ever make his way back to the NBA at this point in his career, and most likely the move overseas was an acknowledgment of that reality. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a lot to offer, and hopefully, he carves out a large role for Pallacanestro.

Warriors fans will be cheering from afar for him to find success.