Goodbye, Yuta Watanabe! $6.4 million, don't blame the NBA for being ruthless to you
The NBA regular season and play-offs are all over, and the playoffs are about to begin. In the months-long journey of this season, veterans such as Lao Zhan, Curry, Durant, and Paul have continued to write brilliantly, supernovas such as Doncic, Alexander, and Haliburton have shined, and powerful players such as Conley, Allen, and Holiday have won early contract extensions, and Porter, Rondo, Griffin and others have made the decision to retire. This is the most real NBA, but when you see the strong laughing, you hear the weak crying!
Just today, Yuta Watanabe made the decision to officially end his 6-year NBA career. Yuta Watanabe still has a contract with a $2.6 million player option for next season, but after much thought, he decided to say goodbye to the NBA and return to the Japanese league. According to Yuta Watanabe himself, there are two main reasons why he did this: first, the 20-year-old youth is wonderful but difficult, and the 30-year-old does not want to wander anymore; second, he just wants to enjoy basketball more purely!
Yuta Watanabe was an undrafted pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, but he didn't give up on his dream because of his name, and instead started his career with the Memphis Grizzlies on a two-way contract. Yuta Watanabe is a believer in "don't abandon and don't give up", and a practitioner of "love to fight to win", he has won one contract after another through his own efforts, and has played for many teams such as the Raptors, Nets, and Suns. This season, Watanabe followed KD to join the Suns on a two-year, $5 million base salary contract, but was traded to the Grizzlies in the middle of the season, and was reimbursed for the season due to a wrist injury and personal reasons.
It takes courage to give up $2.6 million, but Yuta Watanabe knows that time is unforgiving, and he also knows how many pounds and taels he has, and he is not willing to be a water purifier administrator anymore. Starting with the Grizzlies and ending with the Grizzlies, Yuta Watanabe's career was also a complete one. In the words of NBA celebrity teacher Yang Yi, Yuta Watanabe did not break through, and his shooting was just like that, and his ability was not as good as Zhou Peng, but his dream-chasing spirit was commendable! NBA celebrity Mr. Mai Suifeng also pointed out sharply: Yuta Watanabe chose to fight hard when he was young, and he is still very fragrant after accumulating a certain career experience. Although this means that some earnings will be sacrificed, and this road will be cool and lonely to walk, it is indeed worth learning from Chinese teenagers who have NBA dreams.
Goodbye, Yuta Watanabe! 6 years in his career, playing for the Grizzlies, Raptors, Nets and Suns 4 teams, 213 regular season games, 895 points + 496 rebounds + 137 assists + 85 steals + 61 blocks + 153 three-pointers, the total career salary reached 6.4 million US dollars, and after getting acquainted with the well-known Japanese actor & host Akiko Kuji, he fell in love and hugged the beauty, this series of numbers and harvests are the gift of the basketball god to your dream-chasing spirit! Yuta Watanabe is only 29 years old, and he is in the year of playing! According to the Japanese media, there are 20 teams in the Japanese league that are interested in Watanabe, and the battle for Watanabe has begun! Those who know the times are heroes, and those who change the opportunity are heroes. Yuta Watanabe, don't blame the NBA for being ruthless to you, you can start a new chapter in your career in the Japanese league and enjoy life and basketball at the same time! What do you think about this?