Yuta Watanabe

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Yuta Watanabe

Watanabe with the Japan national team in 2023
No. 1 – Chiba Jets Funabashi
Position	Small forward / power forward
League	B.League
Personal information
Born	(1994-10-13) October 13, 1994 (age 30) Yokohama, Japan
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school	Jinsei Gakuen (Zentsūji, Japan) St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Connecticut)
College	George Washington (2014–2018)
NBA draft	2018: undrafted
Playing career	2018–present
Career history
2018–2020	Memphis Grizzlies
2018–2020	→Memphis Hustle
2020–2022	Toronto Raptors
2022	→Raptors 905
2022–2023	Brooklyn Nets
2023–2024	Phoenix Suns
2024	Memphis Grizzlies
2024–present	Chiba Jets Funabashi
Career highlights and awards
Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year (2018) Third-team All-Atlantic 10 (2018) 2× Atlantic 10 All-Defensive Team (2017, 2018)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Japan East Asia Basketball Championship 2013 Incheon Team

Yuta Watanabe (渡邊 雄太, Watanabe Yūta, born October 13, 1994) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Chiba Jets Funabashi of the B.League. He played college basketball in the United States for the George Washington Colonials (now Revolutionaries), becoming the first Japanese-born student athlete to secure an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship.^[1] He was named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2018. He has also represented the Japan national team, helping them win the bronze medal at the 2013 East Asia Basketball Championship.

Before moving to the collegiate level, Watanabe attended Jinsei Gakuen High School in Zentsūji, Kagawa. He later transferred to St. Thomas More Preparatory School in Oakdale, Connecticut in 2013. Watanabe rose to fame in his high school program, and was one of their most valuable players in the National Prep School Invitational as a senior in 2014. In college, he became the fourth-ever Japanese-born Division I basketball player.