Unrestricted free agent Yuta Watanabe has agreed on a deal with the Phoenix Suns, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. Watanabe played with Suns forward Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets this past season and was a very effective shooter off Durant's offensive creation.
Last season, Watanabe shot 44.4 percent from 3-point range and 45.7 percent on catch-and-shoot threes. He has a connection to Durant, who he played off well before the forward was traded to the Suns in February.
Durant has commended Watanabe publicly.
“He's going to be one of those people that's going to be highly, if we (the Nets) don't lock him down, a lot of people are going to want him,” Durant said in his podcast on The Boardroom.
The Suns have been active since free agency started. Phoenix has also reportedly reached deals with Damion Lee, who last season had the third-best 3-point percentage (44.5) in the NBA, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks and Chimezie Metu. One reporter said the Suns have agreed to a deal to bring back wing Josh Okogie, though the reporter has not been accurate with important Suns news lately.
The Suns are well on their way to filling out their roster around Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. Phoenix is going all-in for a championship this season with those three players and center Deandre Ayton.
Phoenix had to sign free agents on minimum contracts and is set to be a second-apron team. But the Suns appear to have addressed needs with Watanabe and Lee as shooters, Bates-Diop as a wing player who is a capable shooter and backup bigs Eubanks and Metu.
Stay tuned to ClutchPoints for more on free agency news for the Suns and around the league.
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