3. Juan Toscano-Anderson
You thought this was going to be Russell Westbrook, didn’t you? Russell Westbrook is not going to shock the world as he is going to be the same old player that he has been his entire career. We are not buying any of the positive spins that the Lakers are trying to sell us before the season begins.
Instead, Juan Toscano-Anderson is a much better candidate to shock the NBA world this season. Coming off of a championship with the Golden State Warriors, JTA is a name that everyone is familiar with but he has not really gotten a chance to thrive.
He played a decent amount for the Warriors during the 2020-21 season when the team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in. His role was downgraded in the 2021-22 season and since he did not play well in the regular season, he was practically out of the playoff rotation.
While JTA’s numbers from last season are not great, there is still potential there for him to be a quality three-and-D role player for LA. After all, the six-foot-six forward did shoot 40.2% from three-point land during the 2020-21 season.
JTA’s advanced defensive metrics are promising but that tends to happen with Warriors players because the team defense is so good. He might not be a great isolation defender that you can stick on an elite player but he buys into the defensive vision and plays his part.
Lakers’ free-agent wish list for 2023 is revealed (and it’s interesting)
The Los Angeles Lakers did not want to take on future money in a Russell Westbrook trade and we now know who the team is targeting with that freed-up space.
With the Lakers really lacking wings, JTA could end up having a big role on the team. If that happens, that will provide him plenty of chances to play quality defense, knock down three-point shots and shock the NBA world.