Grizzlies wing nears career-changing decision: report

Shortly after the Memphis Grizzlies closed the book on their disastrous 2023-2024 campaign in late April, veteran winger Yuta Watanabe took to his personal Instagram account to share that he would be opting out of his player option worth 2.6 million dollars for the 2024–2025 season and continue playing. professional career in his native Japan.

Now, almost two months since this new break, it appears that the 29-year-old is getting closer to finalizing the career-changing move, as BasketballNews.com’s Donatas Urbonas reported on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday morning that Watanabe According to his sources “he is widely expected to join the Chiba Jets.”

The Jets have proven to be one of the best teams in the JBL Super League over the past few seasons, as they have amassed a stellar 131-31 record in the three years leading up to this season, and are coming off a season in which they reached the semi-finals of the Japanese B1 Division and won the East Asia Super League.

Now they will be joined by Watanabe, who has established himself as an extremely effective long-range sniper during his six-year NBA career.

In 213 games played in the association, the veteran has averages of 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds with a 37.0% shooting percentage from distance.

Last season, while splitting his time between suiting up for the Toronto Raptors and then the Memphis Grizzlies, he was used quite sparingly as he saw just 34 games of action and averaged 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in just 13.6 minutes per contest .

By moving abroad, Watanabe hopes to gain more playing time, which in turn will help the Jets in their efforts to reign supreme in the Super League.