Toronto Raptors forward Yuta Watanabe ended up on the wrong end of a viral moment when Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards dunked on him during a game in February.

Photos and videos of Watanabe hopelessly coming up short in his attempt to stop the dunk made their way across social media, including the Instagram feed of actor and basketball fan Kevin Hart, who shared a photo of the dunk with his 100-million-plus followers, saying: "This defender has to be thrown out of the league immediately....there’s no coming back from this.”

But Watanabe is still here, and in his third NBA season he has captured the imagination of basketball fans in Japan, his home country, while earning a rotation spot with the Raptors.