Juan Toscano-Anderson, who was the Warriors’ final roster cut three days ago after being beaten out by Mychal Mulder, is returning to the team on a two-way contract.
The Warriors were hoping they could keep the former Castro Valley High star, which they were able to do Tuesday after he cleared waivers.
The Golden State Warriors are signing forward Juan Toscano-Anderson to a two-way contract, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 22, 2020
Toscano-Anderson will join rookie point guard Nico Mannion to fill the Warriors’ two two-way player contract limit. Both are eligible to play as many as 50 games with Golden State when they’re not with its G League team in Santa Cruz.
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The 27-year-old Toscano-Anderson impressed the Warriors during his 13 games with them last season, but he was let go Saturday in favor of Mulder, who provided the Warriors with another much-needed 3-point shooter with Klay Thompson gone for the season.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was disappointed they had to waive Toscano-Anderson, who averaged 5.3 points, four rebounds and two assists in his NBA debut last season.
“A very, very difficult decision for us. Juan is a favorite of mine because he knows how to play basketball and he’s a winner — he makes plays,” Kerr said after Toscano-Anderson was waived. “He’s not a guy that fills up the stat sheet, but he just makes plays and competes and makes the team better.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a total number of roster spots that would allow keeping everybody.”
The NBA’s rule change on two-way contracts will now allow Toscano-Anderson — and Mannion — to be with the Warriors much more than in previous seasons. Before, two-way players could only spend 45 days with their NBA team, with practice days counting toward that limit. Now, the two-way players can each play up to 50 games with the NBA team.
Toscano-Anderson is quite familiar with Santa Cruz, where he began his G League career in 2018. He averaged 12.5 points and 9.2 rebounds in 31 games with the little Warriors last season.
The Warriors begin their season in Brooklyn against one of their former stars, Kevin Durant, on Tuesday night.
