Juju Watkins

Judea Skies "JuJu" Watkins (born July 15, 2005) is an American college basketball player for the USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference. She graduated from Sierra Canyon School in her hometown of Los Angeles, where she was ranked as the number one recruit in her class by ESPN and earned national high school player of the year honors. Watkins led the United States to gold medals at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship, being named most valuable player (MVP) of each tournament.

Watkins is the daughter of Sari and Robert Neal-Watkins. Her great-grandfather, Ted Watkins, founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. She started playing basketball in a park league at age seven. Watkins trained with Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy and modeled her game after Arike Ogunbowale. As a freshman at Windward School in Los Angeles, Watkins averaged 21 points and nine rebounds per game, leading her team to the CIF Southern Section Open Division title game and the regional final. She was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year. In 2020, Watkins was named SportsKid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids. As a sophomore at Windward, she averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Entering her junior year, Watkins transferred to Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles. She led her team to the Open Division state title and a 30–2 record as a junior. After averaging 25 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists, Watkins was named California Gatorade Player of the Year and Ms. Basketball. She earned player of the year honors from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News. As a senior, Watkins averaged 27.3 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, leading Sierra Canyon to the CIF Southern Section Open Division title, a 31–1 record and the regional final. On senior night, she scored a career-high 60 points, the second-most points in a game in area history, in an 88–39 win over Notre Dame High School. Watkins was recognized as Gatorade National Player of the Year and Naismith Prep Player of the Year. She repeated as player of the year from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News, as well as California Gatorade Player of the Year and Ms. Basketball. Watkins played in the McDonald's All-American Game, where she shared MVP honors, and the Nike Hoop Summit.

Recruiting

Watkins was considered a five-star recruit and the number one player in the 2023 class, according to ESPN. On November 15, 2022, she announced her commitment to USC over offers from South Carolina and Stanford.

On November 6, 2023, Watkins made her college debut and scored 32 points in an 83–74 upset win over AP No. 7 Ohio State. She set the USC record for points in a freshman debut, surpassing Lisa Leslie from 1990. On November 13, Watkins scored 35 points in a 93–42 win against Le Moyne. Nine days later, she posted 31 points and 12 rebounds in a 71–70 win over Penn State. It was the first of three consecutive 30-point games by Watkins, which tied Cheryl Miller for the longest such streak in program history. On January 14, 2024, Watkins recorded 32 points and 10 rebounds in a 73–65 win over AP No. 2 UCLA. On February 2, she scored a career-high 51 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a 67–58 victory over AP No. 4 Stanford. She broke the USC single-game scoring record held by Cherie Nelson since 1989.

Watkins won a gold medal with the United States at the 2021 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Mexico. She averaged 20 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 steals and 3.7 assists per game, earning tournament MVP honors. At the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Hungary, Watkins led her team to the gold medal and was named MVP after averaging 13.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

In her junior year of high school, Watkins signed with Klutch Sports Group, becoming the first female athlete to be represented by the agency. On October 10, 2022, she signed a name, image and likeness deal with Nike.