Former GW Star Yuta Watanabe Getting Real NBA Minutes

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George Washington’s basketball program has put 10 players into the NBA in the last 70 years. None of them were very successful on the big stage but the latest alum to reach the league — Yuta Watanabe — could potentially be the best.

As of five days ago, Watanabe was a guy splitting time between the Memphis Grizzlies bench and G League affiliate. Combined, he saw just over 50 minutes of NBA action in Memphis’ first 54 games (with essentially zero meaningful minutes) while starting all 21 G League games he played in. Luckily for Yuta, the Grizzlies roster started changing in his favor a few days ago.

Memphis made several trades before the trade deadline, shipping out All-Star Marc Gasol, former Wizard Garrett Temple, longtime starter JaMychal Green, and Shelvin Mack. With a less-than-complete roster, the Japanese rookie was slid right into the rotation.

Since the roster shake-up, Watanabe has registered over 45 minutes of action in two games. The minutes were real, the situations were legit, and the 6-foot-9 stretch held his own. He even registered his first double-digit scoring game on Thursday night in Oklahoma City, pouring in 10 points on three made field goals and four made free throws.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TrqLLJTXkE

Watanabe is averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game since cracking the Grizz rotation.

Moving forward, there’s a real opportunity for Yuta to get a lot of playing time. Based on their trades, the Grizzlies aren’t dedicated to winning this season and they’re getting back fewer players than they shipped out. That said, they’ll see what their young players can do, which is good news for Watanabe. Even if he doesn’t stick with Memphis, a strong showing can open a door to a new franchise.

As a member of George Washington’s basketball program, Watanabe was a starter 107 times out of 134 possible games. He averaged 10.9 points in four seasons, highlighted by a career-best 16.3-ppg average as a senior.

Watanabe went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft.