Yuta Watanabe Confirms NBA Departure as He Finalizes Deal With Japanese Membership

After six years, the NBA veteran ahead Yuta Watanabe is bidding farewell to the league, however he’ll proceed taking part in basketball.

The 29-year-old Japanese ahead, who spent the 2023-24 season between the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, is about to return dwelling to play in his dwelling nation.

Watanabe is finalizing a deal to signal with the Chiba Jets of the B.League, Japan’s premier basketball league, as Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews reported. 

The transfer is considered one of many largest in Japanese basketball league historical past, given Watanabe’s already established fame in Japan since his school basketball profession within the United States from 2014 to 2018. 

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The 6-foot-9 appeared in 29 video games for the Suns final season earlier than being dealt throughout the commerce deadline to the Memphis Grizzlies, the identical staff the place he started his NBA profession after they signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2018 NBA Draft.

Yuta Watanabe ends tenure within the United States

Watanabe moved to the United States in 2013 as a 19-year-old, ending highschool at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut.

He then pursued NCAA Division I basketball with the George Washington Colonials primarily based within the nation’s capital.

After his preliminary stint with the Grizzlies from 2018 to 2020, Watanabe made stops with the Toronto Raptors from 2020 to 2022 and the Brooklyn Nets in 2022-23 earlier than splitting his time with the Suns and Grizzlies final season. 

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