The Los Angeles Lakers have moved quickly in free agency to try and fill out their roster, with their biggest move being signing Lonnie Walker IV to the taxpayer mid-level, leaving them with just minimum contracts the rest of the way.
After signing Troy Brown Jr. to one of those minimum deals, the Lakers added former Warriors fan-favorite Juan Toscano-Anderson on a minimum deal, bringing him south to L.A. to bring some additional defensive toughness to their wing rotation.
Free agent forward Juan Tuscano-Anderson — member of Golden State Warriors championship team — has reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent Erika Ruiz of @KlutchSports tells @YahooSports. https://t.co/0eNzwHyMng
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 30, 2022
Toscano-Anderson averaged 4.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game for the Warriors last season, and while he won’t do much to bring more shooting to the Lakers, their clear priority was to get younger, faster, and more athletic on defense this summer. Darvin Ham harped on wanting to bring the Lakers defense back to being among the league’s best, and he needed versatile wing defenders to have a chance at that, and with Walker, Brown, and Toscano-Anderson they’ve at least attempted to do so.
Filling out a roster around three max veterans is tricky, particularly if the effort is to get younger as not a lot of young players want to take minimum contracts, but the Lakers have opened free agency with a flurry of Klutch signees to bring a bit of youth to a veteran squad.