Wednesday, July 13, 2022 — 3 
 
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The first Mexican-American NBA champion, but not the last

IRVING PEA
MiC Columnist

For the first time since its 
founding in 1946, a player of Mexican 
descent won a National Basketball 
Association championship earlier 
this month. Juan Tosca-Anderson, 
or JTA for short, is an Oakland 
native and forward for the Golden 
State 
Warriors. 
From 
playing 
overseas to spending some time in 
the NBA’s official minor league (G 
League), JTA’s story of becoming 
a world champion is nothing short 
of 
spectacular. 
However, 
JTA’s 
Mexican-American heritage, in my 
opinion, makes this hometown-hero 
story so much more unique and 
special.
I fell in love with basketball 
from as early on as I can remember. 
When I attended my first NBA 
Summer League game in 2012, I 
was starstruck at how swiftly the 
players maneuvered through the 
court. During warmups, I watched 
as players threw the ball between 
their legs and through the hoop. The 
Golden State Warriors were playing 
the Los Angeles Lakers at the Thomas 
& Mack Center in Las Vegas, and the 
arena was full of excited fans ready 
to see the young stars showcase their 
talent on opening night. But even 
though I was just as fired up as every 
other die-hard NBA fan, I couldn’t 
help but notice that there was little to 
no one on the court that looked like 
me — a Mexican. From that point on, 
I paid close attention to the new 
faces coming into the league in 
hopes of one day seeing a star 
from Mexican descent emerge 
into the NBA. 
JTA’s 
family 
immigrated 
from Michoacan, Mexico in the 
1940s and immediately settled 
in Oakland. He grew up on 95th 
Avenue on the East Side of the 
city. As a tribute to his roots, 
JTA wears number 95 on his 
jersey. Though JTA’s mother is 
Mexican, his father is African 
American. As a result, JTA is 
considered Afro-Latinx. While 
JTA has represented both his 
Mexican and African American 
heritage as proudly as he can, 
JTA has faced racism from 
both sides, as well. Growing up, 
many people would tell JTA 
that he was neither Black or 
Mexican enough to consider 
himself a member of either 
side. I understand what JTA 
was experiencing: Though I am 
Mexican, I grew up in the United 

States. My family that immigrated to 
the United States constantly urges 
my cousins and my siblings to tie into 
our roots more. Instead of speaking 
Spanish at family gatherings, my 
American-born siblings and I will 
speak English to each other and block 
my Spanish-speaking family from our 
conversations. According to them, 
we’re not Mexican enough. However, 
whenever I enter a white-dominated 
space, such as the University of 
Michigan, I feel that my own voice 
as a Mexican-American is sometimes 
overshadowed 
by 
white 
legacy 
students who have historic ties to the 
University.
Nevertheless, 
JTA’s 
mother, 
Patricia, ensured that JTA and 
his siblings recognized the beauty 
of being biracial kids, especially 
Mexican and Black ones. Patricia 
would constantly remind JTA and his 
siblings that they had “two reasons 
to be proud.” Eventually, the words 
stuck with JTA, and he understood 
that he is neither only Black nor only 
Mexican. He is both and is equally 
as proud of both of his identities and 
understands that though he may not 
fall under a single category, there 
are younger people from both Black 
and 
Mexican 
communities 
that 
have historically been discouraged 
from embracing their own identities 
due to America’s racist history that 
America’s belief that white is right.
Behind former players Eduardo 
Nájera, 
Horacio 
Llamas, 
Jorge 
Gutiérrez and Gustavo Ayón, JTA is 
only the fifth Mexican player in the 

Michigan in Color

NBA’s history. As the only current 
Mexican player in the NBA, JTA 
represents an underwhelming 0.2% of 
all Mexican players in the NBA today. 
As a result, younger generations of 
Mexican basketball players may be 
discouraged from pursuing their 
dreams of one day playing in the NBA 
because there is little to no one that 
looks like them playing in the league, 
and thus, they do not belong. While 
Mexican representation dominates 
highly esteemed global sports like 
boxing and soccer, there is a blatant 
lack of representation of Mexicans 
in basketball. The Liga Nacional de 
Baloncesto Profesional, or LNBP for 
short, is a Mexican league that JTA 
played in for five years. Still, many 
players that also played overseas 
before playing in the NBA advised 
JTA not to play in the LNBP because 
they felt the league did not grant 
enough national exposure for players 
with hopes of one day becoming NBA 
players. In fact, most overseas players 
with dreams of joining the NBA 
first start off by playing in leagues 
in Europe. In ESPN’s list of top 
basketball leagues in the world outside 
the NBA, the LNBP was not ranked at 
all. Regardless, after spending four 
years at Marquette University, JTA 
decided to take his talents to Mexico 
to not only showcase his potential but 
also to better understand his Mexican 
heritage. He was eventually offered a 
spot on the Santa Cruz’s Warriors 
team in the G League. After spending 
a couple of years in the G League, the 
Golden State Warriors eventually 

took a chance on the native Oakland 
player and signed him to a three-year 
contract.
Though JTA’s journey to the 
NBA 
was 
unconventional, 
JTA 
still displays pride in his Mexican 
heritage. Earlier this year, JTA was 
invited to participate in the NBA 
Slam Dunk Contest in Cleveland for 
All-Star Weekend. He became the 
first Mexican-American player to 
participate in the contest and made 
sure to represent Mexico as best as he 
could. JTA represented his Mexican 
heritage with a custom Mexico-
themed jersey and Nike shoes. He 
made sure the world knew that he 
was proud of being Mexican and 
thankful for the Mexican league for 
taking a chance on him.
When JTA and the Warriors won 
the NBA championship against the 
Boston Celtics earlier this month, JTA 
once again ensured that the world 
recognized his pride for his heritage. 
During the championship parade 
in The Bay, JTA carried a Mexican 
flag. Many fans in attendance also 
carried the Mexican flag with them, 
including a little girl spectating the 
parade who JTA picked up and had 
join him. As someone who is Mexican, 
I felt proud as hell that my culture 
was being seen by millions of people 
around the world. For the first time 
in the NBA’s history, the Mexican flag 
was associated with winning an NBA 
championship and was receiving the 
respect it has historically missed 
out on. It also made me hopeful 
that future generations of other 

Mexican American basketball players 
would see this as an opportunity to 
remember that anything is possible.
JTA continues to do a lot for 
Mexico. Every year, he hosts a 
basketball camp in Mexico where 
he personally connects with the 
Mexican youth in Monterrey and 
gives them advice on how to take 
their talent to the next level. He also 
hosts food and backpack drives in the 
state of Monterrey to ensure that his 
community is taken care of. 
It is important to note that, in 
the NBA, Mexican-Americans are 
underrepresented. While he has 
certainly deemed himself worthy 
of a spot on the Warriors roster, 
one cannot help but acknowledge 
that he is the only Mexican player 
in the league. As someone who 
is a part of a group that has been 
historically underrepresented, there 
is a tendency to feel as if it is your 
duty to pave the way for generations 
to come. Regardless, JTA did not let 
this pressure get to him. Instead, he 
used his gift of being Mexican and 
African American as an opportunity 
to demonstrate just how proud he is of 
both his heritages. 
Every young hooper has dreams 
of being one of 450 NBA players in 
the future. Though becoming an 
NBA player was something I never 
really dreamed of, I fell in love with 
the sport from as early on as I could 
remember. However I could not help 
but wonder why there was little to no 
Mexican representation in the league. 
As someone who hopes to one day 
contribute to the field of public 
policy, an area of academia that 
has historically been dominated 
by white people, JTA’s journey 
to becoming the first Mexican-
American 
NBA 
champion 
inspires me to not allow the 
misrepresentation of Mexicans 
hinder me from pursuing my own 
goals. His story reinforces the 
notion that one’s ethnic culture 
should not be a determining 
factor in the outcome of your 
life. It makes me happy to know 
that for the first time in its 75 
years of existing, the NBA has 
finally seen a Mexican-American 
become a champion. I am certain 
that JTA’s journey to stardom 
will 
empower 
others 
with 
similar backgrounds to follow in 
his footsteps and go against what 
many have considered to be the 
norm.
MiC Columnist Irving Peña 
can be reached at irvingp@umich.
edu.

ZOE ZHANG/MiC

