The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday they have signed forward Paul Watson to a standard NBA contract and forward Yuta Watanabe to a two-way player contract. Watson originally signed a two-way player contract with the club Jan. 15, 2020. Per team policy, financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Watson, 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, averaged 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 8.7 minutes in 10 games with Atlanta and Toronto last season. He set career highs with 22 points (8-13 FG, 4-6 3PT, 2-3 FT) and six rebounds in 27 minutes in the regular season finale Aug. 14 vs. Denver. Watson also appeared in 30 games with Raptors 905 in the NBA G League where he averaged 19.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 35.3 minutes. For his efforts Watson was named to All-NBA G League Midseason Eastern Conference Team.
Watanabe, 6-foot-9, 205 pounds, split last season between the Memphis Grizzlies and Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He averaged 2.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 5.8 minutes in 18 games with the Grizzlies. In 22 appearances with the Hustle, Watanabe posted averages of 17.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 32.7 minutes.
A native of Japan, Watanabe owns career averages of 2.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 8.5 minutes in 33 games with Memphis where he has spent the last two seasons (2018-20) as a two-way player.
The Raptors waived forwards Oshae Brissett, Alize Johnson and Henry Ellenson on Saturday. Toronto’s roster currently stands at 17 players with Jalen Harris and Watanabe as two-way players.