Departing the NBA with 213 games under his belt, Yuta Watanabe will have plenty of suitors in his homeland after declaring he will join Japan's B-League ahead of the 2024-2025 season.
While the signing of one of Japan's biggest-ever basketball stars will be a coup for one team, it will provide an overall boost for a league rapidly gaining popularity following the success of the Watanabe-led national team at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Okinawa.
"Just imagining him playing on the B-League stage excites me," league chairman Shinji Shimada said after a board meeting in late April. "Leadership, fighting spirit, the way he trains, he's top-notch at everything."
Watanabe left his high school in Kagawa Prefecture in western Japan before enrolling at George Washington University in 2014. His six years in the NBA from 2018, split between the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, is the longest any Japanese player has lasted in the world's top basketball league.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura, who has just completed his fifth season, is the only other Japanese player with an extensive NBA resume.
"I'm really happy about the efforts he put in over the six years. (Of those from Japan), only Yuta and I know how hard the NBA is," Hachimura said in response to Watanabe's move. "I hope he gives his best in Japan going forward."
With Watanabe still at the peak of his basketball powers at 29 years old, the 206-centimeter forward will provide playmaking, shooting and defensive steel to any team, with a senior official at a B-League club predicting "a bidding war of hundreds of millions of yen (in annual salary)."
A different club official said "every team would be interested" in signing Watanabe, while another source said his switch to the B-League is "significant in every aspect," especially for his new team, not just in sporting terms but also when it comes to raising its "popularity, ticket and merchandise sales, as well as sponsorship revenue."
The league is averaging 4,583 fans per game during the ongoing season, up markedly from 3,469 the previous season that preceded Japan's hosting of the World Cup.
"(Watanabe's arrival) will lead to more fans. It's extremely good for the entire league," a senior B-League club official said.
Watanabe himself is looking forward to his first experience of playing in Japan professionally as he mulls his next employer.
"I've always thought the B-League is an attractive league. The level is definitely improving every year," the forward said. "I'm looking for a team that is serious about wanting me. I want to devote all my energy to the team with passion."
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