How Mexico Can Become The Next Major Exporter of NBA Talent
The Golden State Warriors’ Juan Toscano is the first Afro Mexicano to ever play in the League
There are aspects of Mexico that most North Americans can’t easily relate to: For example, when you leave a tourist zone and drive into an underdeveloped area, roads become dirt paths, and your cellphone signal disappears. Locals walk with machetes dangling from their waists and pick up trucks are loaded with families taking trips to the nearest market miles away. Sometimes there are no police here, so the people of the pueblos must govern themselves.
Mexico is a different world filled with neighborhoods like this, where many U.S. citizens would feel out of bounds. But there is a familiar place that can be found in even the most remote, poorest zones of the country: basketball courts.
Basketball courts are everywhere south of the border — in jungles, cities, and deserts. I’ve seen more basketball courts in Mexico than soccer fields and more courts here than anywhere else I’ve been, including the States. It’s to the point where if I don’t see a basketball court, I feel like something is missing.
Perhaps it’s the reason Juan Toscano is the embodiment of every Mexican’s basketball dream. His exciting emergence signals…
