Japanese national team stars Yuta Watanabe of the Phoenix Suns and Rui Hachimura of the Los Angeles Lakers both voiced their championship aspirations on Monday ahead of the start of the NBA season later in October.
Fresh from helping co-host Japan secure 2024 Olympic men's basketball qualification at the FIBA World Cup in August and September, the 28-year-old Watanabe was bullish about Phoenix's prospects at Suns media day on Monday.
The Suns, losing finalists in 2020-2021, are expected to contend for their first title under the leadership of a "big three" comprising stars Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. They also added former Brooklyn Nets swingman Watanabe in the offseason.
"Winning the championship is the only aim for this team," said Watanabe, brimming with confidence following his starring role as Akatsuki Japan's sole NBA player at the World Cup in Okinawa.
"I was able to ignite Japanese basketball," he said. "I'll work hard on what's in front of me in the NBA and hopefully it will carry over to the Paris Olympics."
Hachimura said his and the Lakers' goal of winning the NBA title "will never change" as they look to secure their 18th championship banner and first since the 2019-2020 season.
The 25-year-old spent much of the summer working out with superstar Lakers teammate LeBron James, learning as much as he could from the future Hall of Famer.
"It was a great experience for me, just learning from him, of course on the court, but also off the court, how he takes care of his body, (in the) weight room, all kinds of stuff," Hachimura said.
Hachimura, who was traded from the Washington Wizards in the middle of last season, said he had focused on footwork and post play during his workouts with James.
"The footwork is going to help my game in different ways," he said. "I just watched him closely and he taught me a lot of little tricks."
The Tokyo Olympian sat out the World Cup to focus on preparing for his first full season with the Lakers, but closely followed Japan's progress as it beat Finland, Cape Verde and Venezuela to qualify for the Olympics as a non-host for the first time since 1976.
"I was really happy about qualification for the Olympics," said Hachimura, who did not say whether or not he planned to be with the national team next summer in Paris.
