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Yuki Kawamura has become a social media sensation and one of the most popular players in the NBA. His friendship with Ja Morant is one of the feel-good stories of the Grizzlies, and his highlight-worthy passing at his 5-8 height makes him extremely fun to watch.
Unfortunately for his fans, those highlights have been harder to come by during the regular season because of how little Kawamura has played. He's sat out of a third of the Grizzlies' games so far, and when he has played, he's averaged only 3.3 minutes.
Here's why Kawamura isn't in the team's regular rotation and what he can do to get more opportunities.
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Why is Yuki Kawamura not playing for Grizzlies?
The Grizzlies have good depth at Kawamura's position
Kawamura is facing a bit of a roster crunch at guard.
Kawamura obviously isn't playing in front of Ja Morant, who looks like a shoo-in for his third All-Star appearance. Even as Morant has exited the lineup with a hip injury, Scotty Pippen Jr. (yes, NBA legend Scottie Pippen's son) has been a pleasant surprise in his place, running the team well and playing tough defense. Veteran Marcus Smart is playing better since returning from his own injury and rookie Jaylen Wells has taken on some playmaking duties.
Kawamura hasn't been able to supplant any of those guys in the rotation yet. Passing is by far his best NBA skill, but that isn't as valuable on this team. Memphis has a lot of good distributors already, including forward Santi Aldama who acts as a hub for some of the offense.
If Kawamura does want to jump ahead of some of those players, he has to become more of a threat to score on offense.
MORE: How long the Grizzlies are expected to be without Ja Morant
Kawamura's offense hasn't come around yet
Kawamura was a big-time scorer in Japan, averaging 20.9 points in the country's B.League. He carried that over to the Olympics, where his 20.3 points per game were the third-highest average of the tournament and better than players such as Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and Stephen Curry.
Kawamura achieved those high-scoring totals due to a solid pull-up 3-point shot, terrific handle, and crafty drives and finishes. That hasn't translated to the NBA level yet.
Kawamura's scoring issues were apparent in the preseason, where he hit only 21.1 percent of his shots from the field and 25.0 percent from 3. He hasn't figured out a way to consistently get layups off around much bigger NBA players, often passing up open ones or getting swatted when he does try them.
Kawamura's deadly 3-point shot has also been missing. He hit 40.6 percent of those looks in the Olympics, but that touch has evaded him this season where he's had some pretty bad misses. He is capable of making them, as he showed in hitting his first NBA bucket.
YUKI KAWAMURA HITS STEPBACK 3 FOR FIRST CAREER BUCKET 🔥🔥🔥#河村勇輝
📺 @FDSN_Grizzlies pic.twitter.com/HPHhW2I7g9
That shooting consistency is going to have to come around for Kawamura, who has hit just one of his first eight 3-point attempts after going 4-of-16 in the preseason. Once he gets more comfortable with the further-out NBA line, that should open up more avenues for him to get to the basket.
Even without that shooting, Kawamura's passing has been as good as expected. His vision is remarkable — it looks like he has eyes in the back of his head at times.
He's also been very unselfish thus far. He passed up an easy opportunity to score the first layup of his career to feed his teammate on a fast break instead.
It's important to remember that Kawamura is still just 23 years old. He will have time to figure out how to get cleaner looks in the NBA, particularly given his contract structure.
MORE: How Yuki Kawamura and Ja Morant developed the NBA's most fun friendship
Kawamura's two-way contract prevents him from playing too much in the NBA
Kawamura is signed to a two-way contract, which limits him from appearing in more than 50 of the Grizzlies' 82 games this season. When he is inactive, he is still allowed to travel, practice and sit on the bench with the team, but he has to sit out of at least 32 regular season games.
Two-way players often spend a considerable amount of time in the G-League to further develop their game. That will be the case for Kawamura, who is slated to make his debut for the Memphis Hustle on Nov. 15. Those minutes should give him an opportunity to gain more of a rhythm and figure out how to get cleaner looks at the basket.
Once he does that, Kawamura will have a much better chance of breaking into the team's rotation.
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