Golden State Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson was repping his Mexican roots during the 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend.
Toscano-Anderson, whose father is Black and mother is Mexican American, wore a pair of customized Nike tennis shoes designed to look like the Mexican flag during his participation in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest. He also wore a Warriors jersey that was patterned with the Mexican flag’s emblem and colors. Toscano-Anderson became the first player of Mexican descent to ever participate in the dunk contest.
After graduating from Marquette University in 2015 and going undrafted, Toscano-Anderson played four years for teams in Mexico’s Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (Soles de Mexicali and Fuerza Regia) and Venezuela’s Liga Profesional de Baloncesto (Bucaneros de La Guaira).
“It’s always important to me [to rep Mexico] because it’s half of who I am and also because that’s where my career started,” Toscano-Anderson told the media during a press conference after the dunk contest. “Also, [I’m] just putting my heritage on a platform – the biggest platform in sports after the Super Bowl and NBA Finals.”
For his first dunk of the night, Toscano-Anderson jumped over fellow NBA player Andrew Wiggins while executing a windmill slam. He scored 45 out of a possible 50 points on the dunk. His subsequent dunks earned him scores of 43, 39 and 30, which earned him a second-place finish.
Although there were some NBA fans who weren’t too excited about the way the dunk contest turned out this year, many Latine fans didn’t care. They were just excited about the representation on the court this year.
Now, the only question that remains is when Nike is going to mass-produce Toscano-Anderson’s Mexican flag sneakers. Take our money, please.