Yuta Wantanabe

Yuta Watanabe (渡邊 雄太, Watanabe Yūta, born October 13, 1994) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball in the United States for the George Washington Colonials after becoming the first Japan-born student athlete to secure an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship. He was named the Atlantic 10 Conference's defensive player of the year in 2018. He has also represented Japan internationally and helped the team win the bronze medal at the 2013 East Asia Basketball Championship. Before moving to the collegiate level, Watanabe attended Jinsei Gakuen High School in Zentsūji, Kagawa. He later transferred to St. Thomas More Preparatory School in Oakdale, Connecticut in 2013. Watanabe rose to fame with this high school program, and was one of their most valuable players in the National Prep School Invitational as a senior in 2014. In college, he became the fourth Japanese-born Division I basketball player of all-time.