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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.