USC Star JuJu Watkins Signs Major Contract Extension With Nike
10/08/2024 03:41 PM
The growth of women's basketball has been on full display over the last few months. From record attendance and viewership in the NCAA Tournament to the rise of the WNBA, women's basketball is having a moment in the country's greater consciousness.
As women's basketball players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese become household names, companies are looking to get in on the next generation of superstars.
That starts at the college level with NIL deals, and one of the best players in the nation just signed a contract extension with one of the top shoe companies in the world.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania, USC star JuJu Watkins has agreed to a multi-year extension with Nike. Charania says the deal will be "one of the richest in women's basketball."
USC sophomore phenom JuJu Watkins has agreed on a multiyear contract extension with Nike that will give her one of the richest shoe endorsement deals in women's basketball, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/zjEAeOTXeT
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 8, 2024
Watkins is capitalizing on her incredible freshman season at USC. The former No. 1 recruit averaged 27.1 points per game last season, and broke the NCAA Division I freshman scoring record with 920 points.
Watkins helped USC win the Pac-12 tournament and led them to the Elite Eight, where they lost to UConn. She scored a season-high 51 points to defeat No. 4 Stanford, outplaying No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink.
Watkins will have to stay in college for two more seasons before she's eligible to enter the WNBA Draft. Unlike the NBA, players must be at least 22 years old or have completed their college eligibility before they're allowed to declare.
With USC expected to be among the top teams in the country, Watkins is expected to be a frontrunner for the national player of the year award. The award is typically reserved for upperclassmen, but younger players like Paige Bueckers have won it in the past.
Bueckers, in her final college season, is likely to be Watkins' main competition for the award this year.
After the rise of Caitlin Clark, it's clear that Nike sees a future in supporting women's basketball. Sabrina Ionescu has a successful line of shoes with the company, and A'ja Wilson's signature shoe is set to debut next year.
Clark will almost certainly have her own shoe in time for the 2025 WNBA season, and it looks like Watkins will be following in the footsteps of some of the best players in the world.
