News on July 12, according to European media reports, Yuta Watanabe, a Japan men's basketball national player who officially ended his six-year NBA career, returned to China to join the Chiba Jets of the B League. Previously, Yuta Watanabe gave up the $2.6 million player option, and Chiba Jets also offered him a 2-year $5 million sky-high contract, which is compensation!
In April, Yuta Watanabe, a Japanese player who plays for the NBA Grizzlies, announced on his personal social media that he would end his six-year NBA career and return to the Japan League next season, for which he also gave up his $2.6 million player option.
In his NBA career, he averaged 13.3 minutes per game, contributing 4.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 0.4 steals, shooting 42.6% from the field and 37% from three-point range.
The reason why Yuta Watanabe returned to China is very simple, he has not had many opportunities to play in the NBA, and it is better to return to China to play more games and contribute more to the domestic league before retiring.
It is worth mentioning that Yuta Watanabe returned to Japan with his wife Akiko Kuji, a well-known actor in Japan and a famous host of former Fuji TV.
The two met in an interview before the 2019 Basketball World Cup, and after the Tokyo Olympics, Yuta Watanabe began to officially date Akiko Kuji, and officially married in May 2022. For the last two NBA seasons, Akiko Kuji has been by Watanabe's side in United States.
On July 12, the 29-year-old Yuta Watanabe announced that he would drop his $2.6 million player option for the 2024-25 season and officially return to the Japan league.
According to European basketball media Basketnews, sources revealed that Yuta Watanabe's new contract with Chiba Jets will be 400 million yen (about 5 million US dollars) for two years, which will set a record in the history of the B League, and can be regarded as a compensation for Yuta Watanabe to give up his NBA career. In Major League Baseball in Japan, there are 10 players who can earn an annual salary of 2.5 million dollars.
In Yuta Watanabe's six-year NBA career, he earned a total of about 6.4 million US dollars (about 46.33 million yuan), which is really a bit shy for the first star of Japan basketball.
And just before, the Japan B League team Chiba Jets officially announced: former CBA champion Ward Junxuan joined the team and competed in the 2024-25 Japan B League as a foreign player!
In the new season, Au Junxuan will partner Japan's men's basketball team Yuki Tomiyasu and Yuta Watanabe in the Paris Olympics this year.
Au Junxuan averaged 4.9 points per game in his 4 seasons in the CBA, and the season with the most points per game was in Fujian, where he could score 9.9 points and 5 rebounds.
In this regard, netizens have said, "Only those stars with big contracts shout all day long that I want to compete for the championship, you look at the middle and bottom of those leagues who don't take where to make money and where to play as the first principle of choice"
"This is just the income on the field, and there may be more endorsements off the field than this."
"Qian Duo is close to home, and there is a beautiful wife"
"Yuta Watanabe is old, and he has injuries, so his family has only returned to the B League, and he really worked hard to pursue his dream in the NBA when he was young."
"At 29 years old, I'm starting to enter the middle and late stages of my career"
"The total contract doesn't say an annual salary, and the annual salary can't be higher than the NBA. More than 5 million is definitely a multi-year contract"
"The dream is over, it's time to make money".