The biggest star on the USC Trojans campus is not a football player. That status belongs to, now sophomore, women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins.
With Caitlin Clark now in the WNBA, Watkins is the face of women’s college basketball and is one of the biggest names in the LA sports landscape.
Thanks to NIL, she is now getting paid like it.
According to ESPN Insider (still odd to say) Shams Charania, Watkins has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with Nike. The deal will give her one of the richest shoe endorsement deals in women’s basketball.
USC Trojans Star JuJu Watkins Gets PAID
Watkins originally signed with Nike as a high school senior, so this extension comes after she exploded onto the scene as a freshman at USC.
A season that saw her become the all-time leading scorer among freshmen in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Her 920 points broke San Diego State’s Tina Hutchinson’s record of 898, a record that has stood since the 1983-84 season.
Also Read: Where Does USC Football Go From Here?
Details of the deal have not been released.
Watkins led the USC Trojans women’s basketball team to the Elite Eight last season and looks to build upon that success. It will be hard to top what she did as a freshman, but the expectations are sky-high, and this deal is likely just one of many to come.