NBA NEWS! TORONTO RAPTORS ANNOUNCES 2 TALENTED PLAYERS DEPARTURE? DECISION SURPRISED THE NBA!

Yuta Watanabe is stepping away from the NBA.

The former Toronto Raptors forward took to Instagram to announce he plans to decline his player option and return to Japan for next season.

After being left undrafted out of George Washington, Watanabe made his NBA debut with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2018–19.

In 2020, he became attached to Toronto and surprised everyone by being added to the roster. During that season, he settled into a rotational role and averaged 4.4 points in 14.5 minutes per game while playing in 50 games. He received a lot of accolades for his diligence and tenacity, which attracted the attention of Toronto’s coaching staff.

Watanabe made a comeback to the Raptors for the next campaign, but he was never able to maintain his fitness. He played in just 38 games, and Toronto was forced to let him go at the end of the season due to a decline in his three-point efficiency.

The 6-foot-9 native Japanese player has played for the Brooklyn Nets for the previous two seasons.

and the Phoenix Suns before going back to Memphis to finish the previous season. Before agreeing to a multi-year contract with the Suns last summer, he shot 44.4% from three-point range with the Nets in 2022–2023–23. It was shortly before the February trading deadline that Phoenix sent Watanabe to Memphis.

This past season, he played in 34 games, scoring 3.4 points and pulling down 1.6 rebounds per contest while shooting 29.4% from three-point range and 35.3% from the field.

Along with Yuta Tabuse and Rui Hachimura, Watanabe is one of just three Japanese players who have played in the NBA.