It is a good update above and also indeed, beautiful thing the way Yuta reflects on GW.
His defiance of odds, tenacity, humble personality, work ethic, relentless motor, unselfish play and real success when given a fair chance--which he took great advantage of last year before his team imploded, should make us all feel proud.
  The NBA hasn't rewarded it financially, even though he is the best corner shooter in the league, but he may have a real shot on his new team.
    Every city where he plays loves Yuta.
    And Phoenix will, too. Already welcoming him.

Just look at Yuta's emotion here: https://twitter.com/FIBAWC/status/1697957217268588648

So happy for him and the rest of Team Japan

Nice.  Brand ambassador for GW for life.

dmvpiranha wrote:

Yuta had 8 points and 4 rebounds in his debut with the Suns. Beal was out but it's a good sign regardless that's he is getting minutes on a team that has quite a bit of talent.



 

I caught a couple minutes. At one point, he blocked a shot, then hit a three at the other end.  Announcer said “We had a Swat-anabe and a Got-anabe”

Agree with BGF. Yuta hit a big 3 near the end to help keep Phoenix in the game.
His defense is superb and energetic, responsible, as BGF notes for things that don't show up in a 
box score.
    And in the Swatanabe and Gotanabe period on both ends of the court, believe
Yuta also tipped a rebound to a teammate.
   His coach has pointed to Yuta's value, down to being in the right position all the time. Durant has
saluted his court smarts. 
   Yuta makes every team he's on better and hope one day, he gets appropriately compensated for it.
  But we have a lot be proud of about the type of player he is--and the work he always puts in.

Since he is in Phoenix, some of the games seem to be the late games on TNT, a regular cable
channel.
  Suns managed to snatch defeat from the jaws on victory with 1.2 seconds left.
I attribute the Suns painful loss to sitting Yuta too long in the 4th quarter after he widened the lead
in the 3rd.

Free Quebec wrote:

Traded to Memphis today.

Full circle for him as he spent the first two years of his career there. Hopefully they give him more minutes than what he got in 2018-2019 (11.6) and 2019-2020 (5.8).

Memphis is turning into the A10 All Star team with Yuta, Jacob Gilyard, and Vince Williams Jr on the roster.

Yuta and Memphis is about to tip off against the Milwaukee Bucks on TNT. Jaren Jackson Jr. is out for this game, so their already depleted roster is even more depleted so Yuta may get an opportunity to get a lot of minutes and put up some great numbers tonight. Yuta is not starting but I expect he'll get a lot of minutes

I've been wondering too. I got this off of ESPN, though it doesn't help at all:

Watanabe is set to miss a 16th straight game, and there's no apparent reason why he's out other than it being a personal matter. As such, his next chance to feature will come against Detroit on Friday, but it wouldn't be shocking if he ends up being ruled out for the rest of the season sooner rather than later.