Former Laker and five-year NBA veteran Juan Toscano-Anderson weighed in on the GOAT debate.
Toscano-Anderson, who played in LA during the 2022-23 season, appeared on the Basketball Network podcast last week. He believes LeBron James is the greatest basketball player ever.
“I think LeBron James, in my personal opinion, is the greatest basketball player of all time,” Toscano-Anderson said. “I didn’t watch Michael Jordan play. I was born in 1993. So, I didn’t really watch Michael Jordan at all.”
More: Lakers get encouraging Luka Doncic injury update from JJ Redick
Toscano-Anderson, an Oakland, California native, went undrafted in 2015 before playing internationally and in the NBA G-League. He caught on with the Golden State Warriors in 2020, spending two seasons with his hometown team. JTA won a title with the Warriors in 2022 before signing a free agent deal with the Lakers that offseason.
He believes James is the only player in league history who can do everything on the court and play all five positions. Toscano-Anderson said watching LeBron push the Warriors dynasty to the brink changed his opinion on who the GOAT is.
“I’ve been a Warriors fan my whole entire life,” Toscano-Anderson said. “Watching him compete against that dynasty, people say that that was the best team of all time. He took that team to the wire pretty much by himself.”
Toscano-Anderson later played for the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings. He’s now with Pallacanestro Trieste, a professional team in Italy. He averaged 4.1 points and three rebounds in 202 career NBA games after last playing in the league in 2024.
More NBA news: