SAN FRANCISCO — Juan Toscano-Anderson wasn’t gonna give up the rock. Jordan Poole wasn’t gonna back down.
Fighting for a loose ball in the third quarter of Tuesday’s season opener between the Warriors and Lakers, the two former teammates looked like a couple of brothers in a backyard. Eventually, Poole had to relent, as JTA scooped him off the ground and they smiled.
Adding to the scene? The pair had to go head-to-head in a jump ball, which featured two tosses after the first one was blown dead. For the record, the 6-foot-6 Toscano-Anderson got the best of the 6-foot-4 Poole in the jump ball.
“It was good to see Juan today,” Poole said. “We’ve been so competitive since Day 1. That’s my brother.”
While Toscano-Anderson got to receive his ring from the Warriors before the game, he was doing it in Lakers warmups. The Bay’s native son has gone to LA, but that competitive fight with Poole hasn’t gone anywhere.
The duo spent three seasons together as Warriors teammates from 2019-21 before JTA signed on with the Lakers for a veteran minimum deal in free agency.
It sounds like this wasn’t their first scrap.
“Being able to go back to our practice days and days that we had in open gym, he’s a scrappy player,” Poole said. “He goes 100 percent all the time and I know that, so just diving on a loose ball. I knew he wouldn’t let the ball go. He had a better grip on the ball than I did. It was really cool being in that moment. A little bit nostalgic. I’ll try to win that jump ball next time.”
JTA and Poole also shared a chat at Chase Center last week when the Lakers were in town for a preseason game.
While the Warriors look like major threats to repeat as champs last year, it could be a long season for the Lakers if Tuesday’s 124-109 Golden State victory was any indication. No matter how bad it gets in LA, at least JTA will have his Larry O’Brien trophy tattoo on his left forearm to remind him of the glory days.
