Despite Japan being officially out of the running for the 2023 FIBA World Cup championship following their third place finish in Group D behind both Germany and Australia, the performance of Phoenix Suns forward Yuta Watanabe during play shows that Japan is looking to make noise in the Olympics.
Watanabe, 28, took to social media to say – “Still got two more games that we must win to get a ticket to Paris Olympic. Let’s keep fighting Japan,”
While Watanabe projects to be a valuable rotational player this upcoming season for the Suns, whom he signed a two-year deal with as a free agent this summer following a stint with the Brooklyn Nets, he had a prominent role for Japan.
Despite a poor performance during Japans’ victory over Finals, Watanabe bounced back with 24 points and 7 rebounds during their loss to Australia.
Watanabe seemed to deal with an ankle injury throughout the tournament, saying on social media that he had suffered an injury in a game earlier this month versus Angola and again versus Germany in Japan’s first World Cup game.
