Tag: Yuta Watanabe

Report: former Net Yuta Watanabe signs with Japan’s Chiba Jets

BasketNews.com recently reported that former Brooklyn Nets forward Yuta Watanabe has signed with the Chiba Jets of Japan’s B.League.

The Brooklyn Nets during the 2022-23 season saw plenty of players come and go from the franchise since that was the year that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were traded away at the trade deadline. One of the players that played with Irving and Durant during that season is now playing in Japan.

Per BasketNews.com, forward Yuta Watanabe signed with the Chiba Jets of Japan’s B.League recently on a historic contract that is expected to be the largest deal signed in league history. Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reported last week that Watanabe was close to signing with the Jets, something he dubbed as “one of the biggest moves in Japanese basketball league history.”

After Watanabe’s signing with Chiba became official, more details came out about his contract with the team, including that his deal is expected to exceed $5 million. Based on the reporting from BasketNews, it seems that the contract is just for the 2024-25 season so time will tell if Watanabe attempts to come back to the NBA next season.

Watanabe, 29, played in 58 games (1 start) during the 2022-23 campaign and averaged 5.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 49.1% from the field and 44.1% from three-point range. At one point, Watanabe led the NBA in three-point shooting percentage (57.1) and he went one to have his best performance shooting the ball from beyond the arc in his career.

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Report: Former Net Yuta Watanabe to play in Japan after NBA retirement

Former Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter Yuta Watanabe is set to play in Japan after retiring from the NBA, per Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.

The Brooklyn Nets have seen plenty of players come and go over the course of the past few seasons as the franchise has tried to find its way. One of the fan favorites of the Nets fanbase during the big 3 era is trying to find his way as well and appears to be going outside of the NBA to do so.

Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com reported on Monday that former Net Yuta Watanabe is expected to go back to his native Japan to continue his professional basketball career. Per Urbonas, Watanabe would be making “one of the biggest moves in Japanese basketball league history” if he does end up joining the Chiba Jets.

Watanabe, 29, came into the NBA as an undrafted free-agent after not being selected in the 2018 NBA Draft despite a productive career at George Washington University. He spent his first two seasons in the league playing for the Memphis Grizzlies before playing the following two seasons for the Toronto Raptors.

In August of 2022, Watanabe signed a one-year, minimum contract with the Nets to serve as depth while the team was trying to win a championship with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving leading the way. To that point, Watanabe played well in his role as he led the NBA in three-point shooting well into November of the 2022-23 season before finishing the season with his best performance from behind the three-point line (44.4%).

Watanabe left Brooklyn to play for the Phoenix Suns during the 2023-24 season after signing a two-year, $5 million deal for a Suns team looking for players willing to take the minimum to help them with their own title aspirations. Phoenix traded Watanabe to the Grizzlies at the trade deadline and went on to play in just five games for Memphis before announcing his intention to retire from the NBA to look for more playing opportunities in Japan.

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Former Brooklyn Net Yuta Watanabe says goodbye to Nets fans

On Tuesday, former Brooklyn Nets guard Yuta Watanabe tweeted his goodbye to Nets fans.

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The Brooklyn Nets have been making moves this offseason that have led to some solid additions to the team moving forward. However, as is the nature of the offseason, that has led to some players who were on the team last season moving on to other opportunities.

On Tuesday, former Net Yuta Watanabe tweeted his thanks to Brooklyn’s fanbase after agreeing to a deal with the Phoenix Suns on the first day of free-agency. Watanabe spent just one season with the Nets after agreeing to a one-year deal with the organization last offseason.

Losing Watanabe is a blow to the depth that Brooklyn had on the bench, but the parting makes sense given the fact that Watanabe’s minutes decreased after the trade deadline that brought in four new players. More to the fact, after trading for Bradley Beal, the Suns need players that would go for the minimum and Watanabe was a candidate who fit the ball while being a talented player as well.

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Report: former Brooklyn Net Yuta Watanabe signs with the Phoenix Suns

Former Brooklyn Nets has signed a contract with the Phoenix Suns, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

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The Brooklyn Nets have gone through the 2023 NBA Draft and now, have achieved their most important objective by bringing wing Cam Johnson back to Brooklyn. However, it looks like the Nets lost one of their glue guys in free-agency.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, wing Yuta Watanabe will be signing with the Phoenix Suns. The numbers have not been reported yet, but given Phoenix’s cap situation after trading for guard Bradley Beal, Watanabe is most likely going to the Suns for a minimum deal. Watanabe played a big role for the Nets in 2022-23 and was one of the better three-point shooters in the league.

Watanabe, 28, averaged 5.6 points per game and shot 44.4% from three-point land in 58 games for Brooklyn, but saw his playing time drop after the trades of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving brought in four new players who ended up starting. However, Watanabe now has a chance to get more minutes with the Suns because of how they have to fill out the roster.

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Nets’ Yuta Watanabe considered ‘obvious’ fit for the Phoenix Suns

Per John Hollinger of The Athletic, Brooklyn Nets wing Yuta Watanabe is an “obvious” fit for the Phoenix Suns.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the thick of their offseason and while the draft is the first major event coming up, less than a week away from now, the Nets still have free-agency to think about. According to John Hollinger of The Athletic, Brooklyn may have to worry about losing wing Yuta Watanabe to the Phoenix Suns.

Watanabe, 28, just finished his first season with the Nets averaging career-highs in points per game (5.6), field-goal percentage (49.1), and three-point field-goal percentage (44.4). Watanabe is an unrestricted free-agent after coming to Brooklyn on a 1-year minimum contract following spending the past two seasons with the Toronto Raptors.

Watanabe has a skill set that most teams are looking for from a wing that is going to come off the bench and contribute. He can shoot the ball well, especially from the corners, and he does a good job of defending his position due to his energy and athleticism. As Hollinger says in his article, Phoenix is looking to add depth to its roster without breaking the bank and Brooklyn may choose to let some of its wing depth leave in order to balance out the roster.

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Should Yuta Watanabe be a Brooklyn Net next season?

Will the Brooklyn Nets bring back Yuta Watanabe? Jakob Ashlin of Fansided doesn’t think so.

The Brooklyn Nets have an interesting offseason ahead of them as they figure out the best way to move forward as a franchise. When it comes to what players are on the roster for next season, per Jakob Ashlin of Fansided, wing Yuta Watanabe will not be one of those players.

Watanabe, 28, came to the Nets on a one-year contract before the start of the 2022-23 season after spending two seasons each with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors. In this past season for Brooklyn, Watanabe averaged 5.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 49.1% from the field and 44.4% from three-point land.

As of right now, Watanabe is an unrestricted free-agent who could be on the radar of other teams because of his ability to shoot the basketball and be a disruptor on the defensive end. He had a coming out of sorts as he reached career-highs in his shooting percentages as well as his scoring per game figures.

Here’s why Ashlin believes that Watanabe will be playing for another team for the 2023-24 season:

“Watanabe was sensational for the Nets in limited action. He shot 44.4 percent from three, which was tied for the fourth-highest mark in the NBA (minimum 100 attempts). He was also third on the team in true shooting percentage (63.7 percent), trailing only Nic Claxton and Kevin Durant.

The additions of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Dorian Finney-Smith moved Watanabe down the depth chart. He had a decrease of 7.6 minutes per game following the All-Star break. In the playoffs, he logged only four total minutes.

Watanabe is set to become an unrestricted free agent. Given his breakout season, he is an appealing role player on the open market. The Nets did not aggregate real minutes to him in the playoffs, so I do not expect them to offer him the MLE to retain him.”

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2022-23 Brooklyn Nets player grades: Yuta Watanabe

Here’s the 2022-23 season review and grade for Brooklyn Nets forward Yuta Watanabe.

The 2022-23 season was an interesting one for the Brooklyn Nets. In a season that started with championship expectations, the Nets’ season ended with just trying to hold on to a playoff spot after trading away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to end the superstar experiment once and for all.

At one point, Brooklyn was regarded as one of the main contenders in the Eastern Conference with Durant and Irving leading the way. Once the trade deadline came and went, the Nets had a completely different team led by budding star wing Mikal Bridges.

Not to mention, Brooklyn went through a coaching change after Steve Nash was fired following a 2-5 start to this season. Jacque Vaughn is now the head man of a team that is currently in flux thanks to the trades of Durant and Irving. While the offseason is still fresh, it’s a good time to review all of the Nets who played this season starting with: forward Yuta Watanabe.

(All stats are courtesy of basketball-reference.com).

Nets’ Yuta Watanabe listed as free-agent target of the Golden State Warriors

Brooklyn #Nets forward Yuta Watanabe should be a free-agent target of the Golden State #Warriors, according to Bleacher Report.

Brooklyn Nets forward Yuta Watanabe is listed as a top free-agent target of the Golden State Warriors, according to a recent article by Bleacher Report. Watanabe is currently an unrestricted free-agent this summer after signing a 1-year, $1.8 million non-guaranteed contract with the Nets this past summer.

Watanabe, 28, just completed his fifth season in the NBA after previous stops with the Memphis Grizzlies (2018-20) and the Toronto Raptors (2020-22). For his career, Watanabe is averaging 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.9% from the field and 39% from three-point land. He had a bit of a breakout for Brooklyn as he bumped his scoring average up to 5.6 points per game and shot 49.1% from the field and 44.4% from behind the three-point line.

One of Watanabe’s best games of the 2022-23 season came in a 2-point win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 17. In that contest, Watanabe had a season-high 20 points (shooting 5-of-7 from three-point land) and pulled down seven rebounds as well. Here’s what Zach Buckley of B/R had to say about Watanabe being a free-agent target of the Warriors:

“With the Warriors potentially looking to cut costs in light of the collective bargaining agreement’s new restrictions on big spenders, they may only have minimum money to throw around on players outside the organization.

That would obviously drain the player pool considerably, but maybe they could sneak in a potential bargain like Yuta Watanabe.

His 2022-23 breakout was interrupted by the Brooklyn Nets’ deadline dealing, which quickly congested the wing rotation. Watanabe was often squeezed out, which potentially clouds over what was otherwise a convincing campaign.

He spent the first half of the season energizing a Nets team that was still championship chasing with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Watanabe, a 6’9″ swingman, consistently made his presence felt with energetic defense, transition attacking and a three-ball that fell at a personal-best rate of 44.4 percent (and a ridiculous 51.4 percent from the corners, per NBA.com).”

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Celtics projected to go for a wing, two forwards in 2023 free agency

It might seem early, but you can bet that the team’s front office already has its eyes on some potential candidates to pursue to shore up the team’s needs around the margins.

It is probably a bit early for most of us to be thinking about the 2023 NBA draft, never mind the summer free agency period that will follow it for the Boston Celtics, but you can bet that the team’s front office already has its eyes on some potential candidates to pursue to shore up the team’s needs around the margins.

And the Celtics’ front office is not alone in that regard, with some analysts already beginning to sniff around the pool of free agents that mike make sense for Boston to try and sign to a deal this summer.

One such analyst is Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, who has three such targets in mind for the Celtics — let’s take a look (and be sure to check out the full article).

Nets’ Yuta Watanabe perfectly described the love Japanese fans have for Shohei Ohtani

Saying Ohtani is a king in Japan would probably be an understatement.

Shohei Ohtani is the unquestioned king of the baseball world.

What other reasonable conclusion could there be after the mega-star led Japan to the 2023 World Baseball Classic title? He even struck out fellow mega-star and his Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to reach the top of the WBC summit!

If anyone deserved $1 billion for being the face of baseball, it’d be Ohtani.

But if you think Ohtani is beyond popular stateside, he’s unquestionably royalty in his native Japan. After Ohtani helped close out the WBC title, the Brooklyn Nets’ Yuta Watanabe summed up how beloved the baseball titan is in Japan.

And honestly: It’s very easy to believe him.

If Ohtani is “like God” in Japan after winning the WBC, what happens when he wins a World Series? Because following some intriguing postgame comments from Trout on Tuesday, it certainly seems like that reality will also be possible very soon.