On the last day to finalize their opening night roster, the Toronto Raptors surprised us all. They decided to retain one of their training camp invitees, Yuta Watanabe, on a two-way contract to fill out the back half of their roster. In the process, he beat out Alize Johnson, Henry Ellenson, and the returning Oshae Brissett for the final slot on the team ahead of the 2020-21 season.
Before the start of training camp the odds were against Watanabe. The Raptors already had a 17-man roster made up of incumbent players and recent bigger name signees.