An NBA journeyman has made it back to where it all started, while another has secured his spot on a playoff team.

Jordan Bell signed with the Golden State Warriors on Friday, marking his return via a two-way contract to a team he debuted for in 2017 and last played for in the 2018-19 season. The move also elevated Juan Toscano-Anderson to the 15-man roster after the forward was previously with the team on a two-way contract.

Starting 16 regular season games over his two seasons in the Bay Area – the Warriors would go to two NBA Finals from during that span, winning the first – the Oregon product has since played in Minnesota, was traded to Houston and Memphis and signed a multi-year deal with Cleveland before being subsequently traded and waived by the Lakers this past offseason. Most recently, the 2018 NBA champion would play in the G League Bubble for the Erie Bay Hawks between two 10-day contracts with the Washington Wizards.

Since his selection in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft, Bell has seen his numbers fall in nearly every major statistical category from his rookie campaign, when he set career-highs in a season by shooting 62.7% from the field, scoring 4.6 points per game and recording a block per contest.

While he fell out of favor in Steve Kerr’s rotation in the 2018-19 season because of question of his poor work ethic and maturity – Bell infamously attempted to prank assistant coach Mike Brown with the purchase of a candle charged to the latter’s room, resulting in a one-game suspension – it is easy to forget Bell’s contribution to the Warriors’ third ring in June 2018.

Bell averaged 13.5 minutes, 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in Golden State’s four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and was an essential part of a two-man game with Stephen Curry in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston, dishing passes to Curry in both corners of the court during a patented Warriors third-quarter run.

His signing also comes at a position of need for Golden State, with only Kevon Looney getting regular minutes as a conventional center. The Warriors lost Marquese Chriss and James Wiseman to injury, and second-year big man Alen Smailagic has not earned serious rotational consideration from Kerr.

Toscano-Anderson’s elevation to the 15-man roster is the culmination of his journey from rotational irrelevance to becoming a key cog in Golden State’s success, as he has also stepped in to take wing minutes with Kelly Oubre Jr. sidelined with a wrist injury. The Oakland native first appeared with the Warriors at the end of the 2019-20 season, right before COVID-19 would end Golden State’s campaign, and has a 2018 LNBP (Mexican Professional League) MVP to his name.

This season, Toscano-Anderson picked up bunches of DNPs in the first 20 contests, but is now consistently logging 25-35 minutes per game. The 28-year old has also endeared himself to teammates and fans alike with his hustle plays, epitomized by when he gave up his body and dove onto the scorers table to save a ball on April 17 in Boston, sustaining a concussion before returning to the rotation after missing two contests.