Juju Watkins, a future USC guard and the No. 1 women’s basketball recruit in the class of 2023 according to ESPN, says that over the past year, her life has gotten crazier. Photoshoots, brand meetings and media interviews have become increasingly routine and weaved into a schedule that also includes school and starring on the nation’s top-ranked high school basketball team.
On Monday, the Sierra Canyon (Calif.) star thought she was taking part in another standard photoshoot at her high school. At one point during it, a photographer said she should pose with a basketball. Instead of being passed one, however, future Hall of Famer Candace Parker entered the gym holding something else.
It was a trophy for Watkins, one that named her the 2022-23 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“This is one of the most prestigious awards you can get,” Watkins told The Athletic. “Just to get it and end it off the right way is really special for me. And it just gives me a lot of motivation going into next year at USC.”
She was shocked. Her family and coaches, meanwhile, had known full-well what was set to transpire. “I don’t know how they kept it secret from me for so long,” Watkins said.
Her latest honor is one Watkins said has been a goal. Yet it is just one of…
