The Nets will be without their breakout star for another game.
Yuta Watanabe missed Monday’s game against the Orlando Magic and head coach Jacque Vaughn ruled him out for Wednesday’s game against the Washington Wizards. Watanabe has been dealing with a right hamstring strain that has held him out of five straight games for the Nets.
“He will not be available Wednesday. He’s still having some awareness in that hamstring,” Vaughn said ahead of the matchup with the Magic. “we will get him re-imaged and see what it looks like compared to his last image, but he will not be available. Wednesday. We’ll check back and see what it looks like from there.”
Vaughn added that the re-imaging will occur on Monday, but they won’t have any results back by the end of the night.
Watanabe has turned into a fan favorite this season and has been an invaluable weapon for the Nets off the bench. Prior to the injury, he had scored double-digit points in four straight games and had a season-high 20 points against the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 17.
His shooting has been lights out knocking down 60.9% of his shots from the field and 57.1% from three-point range. Watanabe shot 60% or better from beyond the arc in his last three games before his hamstring started to act up.
