{"id":796393,"date":"2024-02-05T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T18:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=796393"},"modified":"2024-02-14T16:24:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T21:24:41","slug":"juju-watkins-cover-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/248\/juju-watkins-cover-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen of LA: Juju Watkins is Leading a Renaissance of Women’s College Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Everyone can\u2019t stop staring at Juju Watkins. It\u2019s January, and we\u2019re with the USC freshman star outside of the Galen Center. There\u2019s a long line of people waiting at the ticket booth in anticipation for tonight\u2019s men\u2019s volleyball matchup against Harvard, but they can\u2019t help looking over at us in curiosity. As the sun sets over downtown L.A. and legendary photographer Atiba Jefferson is snapping away, Watkins is in her element and serving looks while rocking a knitted cropped gray sweater and cargo pants with a pair of Js. It\u2019s giving major California dreamin\u2019 vibes when, suddenly out of nowhere, someone driving in a car nearby screams out the window. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love you Jujuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now all eyes really are on Watkins. She smiles and humbly laughs it off\u2014later she admits that it could\u2019ve been a teammate or something. \u201cI don\u2019t know what that was,\u201d Watkins says, while sitting on the team\u2019s practice court. \u201cThat might have been my teammate honestly just trolling me. Sometimes I get recognized, but not too often.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Juju Watkins<\/strong> covers SLAM 248. Shop now.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, OK. While she might be humble about all the attention, there\u2019s a reason everyone calls her \u201cThe Juju Show.\u201d Watkins was so big time in high school, Chris Brown and 2 Chainz would pull up to her games at Sierra Canyon to watch her play. The No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2023 has had legends like LeBron James, whose son Bronny is currently a freshman on the USC men\u2019s team, and USC all-time great Cheryl Miller, as well as fellow California natives James Harden and Paul George, give her nothing but high praise. Step onto the USC campus, and you\u2019ll see her No. 12 jersey in the school bookstore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always dreamt of playing for a college that I love and being able to have so much pride in where I go to college,\u201d she tells us. \u201cTo finally be here and have made that decision and be confident [in it] is a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Right outside, there\u2019s a newsstand with copies of the Daily Trojan,<\/em> and the very first thing we notice is that the main photo in the sports section is Watkins dribbling down the court with the caption, \u201cUSC will need a big game from her to pull off the upset against the Bruins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She did that and more. A few days after her SLAM cover shoot, Juju dropped a double-double in a win against UCLA in front of a record-breaking 10,657 fans. Her 32 points and 10 boards earned her Associated Press National Player of the Week and the Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week. May we remind you: she\u2019s only 18 years old, and yes, she\u2019s already a bucket-getting-dime-dropping-silky-smooth guard with a game so fluid and pro-ready, it\u2019s mesmerizing to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet. Actually, nah, let\u2019s. That\u2019s what the sports world does with every promising young player, and to keep it real, no one ever hesitates to declare the dudes the next big things. After all, didn\u2019t the world start calling LeBron \u201cThe Chosen One\u201d back when he was in high school? Speaking of which, even he\u2019s declared Juju is the future: \u201cShe\u2019s the next greatest thing in women\u2019s basketball,\u201d he said in the Los Angeles Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she leads a renaissance of L.A. hoops and a new era of freshman stars, Watkins also represents why women\u2019s sports is not just important to support and invest in, but exciting and special. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think women\u2019s basketball is constantly evolving, so just to be a part of that and be in that mix is an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was just three years ago when we were in the gym with a 15-year-old Juju and her pops, Robert, to film her \u201cDay in the Life.\u201d <\/a>Growing up in the neighborhood of Watts, Watkins was dropping 30 pieces at just 6 years old and was already so dominant that in the middle of a game, a younger boy literally picked her up and tried to take her off the court because he couldn\u2019t guard her. She\u2019d play in the Westchester Park rec league, and according to Robert, would even get \u201cupset\u201d whenever they\u2019d play one-on-one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I knew she had it,\u201d he told us. \u201cWhen she started getting mad.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Watkins plays with that same fire, but she\u2019s learned to channel it into a competitiveness that\u2019s lethal every time she steps on the floor. She transforms into a different person, she admits, who is drastically different from the laid-back, chill one she is off the court. \u201cHonestly, I just think basketball brings out another side to me. [I\u2019m] very mellow off the court,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s too much. Screaming, all that, that\u2019s not really me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world saw that side of her right from the jump in her college debut against Ohio State. Amid a 32-point performance, Watkins was clapping and screaming in excitement after finishing tough layups at the rim. When the win was secured, there she was again, chest-bumping her teammates. Her performance broke Lisa Leslie\u2019s freshman debut scoring record (30). \u201cI think coming into [my] freshman season, I didn\u2019t really have too many expectations for myself,\u201d Watkins says. \u201cI think just getting my feet wet, I guess as people would say. But now that I\u2019m finally in it, I\u2019m setting more goals for myself and expect more for myself. But honestly, at the end of the day, [it\u2019s] just having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d break another record held by Leslie just six games in, this time for most 30-point games by a USC freshman in program history. She also led the Trojans to a record of 6-0 and their highest AP Top 25 ranking (No. 6) in 29 years. Here\u2019s another crazy stat for you: after a win against Cal Poly, Juju had posted 161 points, 45 rebounds, 19 assists, 14 steals and 8 blocks for the season. According to OptaSTATS, in the last 20 years, only one other NBA, WNBA or Division I men\u2019s or women\u2019s player has put up numbers like that over a six-game span. Guess who it was? LeBron Raymone James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As of press time, Watkins is posting 26.1 ppg, ranked just below Caitlin Clark for highest average in the nation. For Juju, bringing a winning culture to USC has always been the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I just want to really instill a winning culture here at SC, I think that\u2019s what\u2019s most important\u2014that when my teammates and I leave, SC is still thriving and doing really well,\u201d she says. \u201c[I want to] just make sure that L.A. women\u2019s basketball is always on top and really represent the West Coast and where I\u2019m from [in] Watts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legacy is synonymous with the Watkins family: Watkins Memorial Park is named after her great-grandfather, a local civil rights leader who founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. Juju grew up playing either in her family\u2019s backyard or at the Watts gym, which is also named after him. Both her father and mother, Sari, were athletes in high school and raised Juju to be the best at whatever she did. They also gave her the middle name Skies, fitting given that their daughter would one day play at the same institution as the Hall of Famer Miller, who once said that for Juju, \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit,\u201d per the Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[My mom] loved Lisa and Cheryl, she grew up in that era,\u201d says Watkins. Upon watching the Women of Troy<\/em> documentary with her mom, she got to see just how \u201cinspiring\u201d players like Miller, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and fellow L.A.-native Tina Thompson truly were, and still are. \u201cIt\u2019s really a sisterhood here,\u201d she says. \u201cI love that I can call on them whenever and they\u2019re there for me. I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Miller and Cooper-Dyke both helped bring the two\u2014and only\u2014basketball championships the Trojans program has ever won (1983, 1984). Those banners are hanging just above the practice court, in clear view from where Watkins is sitting right now. When we ask her about what kind of legacy she wants to leave at USC, Watkins emphasizes bringing USC women\u2019s basketball back to the top. But she\u2019s also thinking bigger. Dreaming bigger. It\u2019s not just about her, but about the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI owe a lot of my success to my family and my city, and I\u2019m just planning on doing as much as I can for kids growing up in the same city as me and all around L.A.,\u201d she says, \u201cshowing [them] that or being a testament to what can happen when you just work hard and follow your dreams.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JUJU WATKINS SLAM 248 COVER TEES AVAILABLE NOW!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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COP A COVER TEE<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Portraits by Atiba Jefferson<\/em>. Action photo via Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone can\u2019t stop staring at Juju Watkins. It\u2019s January, and we\u2019re with the USC freshman star outside of the Galen Center. There\u2019s a long line of people waiting at the ticket booth in anticipation for tonight\u2019s men\u2019s volleyball matchup against Harvard, but they can\u2019t help looking over at us in curiosity. As the sun sets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":796965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65157],"tags":[62525,64925,5007,703,63726],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-796393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-65157","tag-feature-1","tag-juju-watkins","tag-usc","tag-usc-trojans","tag-wslam"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796393"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796998,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796393\/revisions\/796998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796393"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=796393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}