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