USC Women's Basketball: JuJu Watkins Turning NBA Heads Already

USC Trojans freshman wing JuJu Watkins, the No. 1 recruit out of her high school class last season, has been making quite the impression on everyone who's watched her kicking butt and taking names thus far, not the least of which are several major NBA luminaries, as Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times writes.

Watkins' favorite NBA player, Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA point forward LeBron James was in attendance to witness her 27-point outburst (in less than 30 minutes) against UC Riverside in an 85-53 blowout on December 10th.

“She’s the next greatest thing in women’s basketball,” James said following that game.

Two other veteran future Hall of Famers are also really enjoying Watkins' impressive recent run. She's averaging 26.8 points in the country, good for second-most overall, on a .469/.455/.776 slash line, along with 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.6 blocks.

Los Angeles Clippers point guard James Harden, an LA native, worked out with Watkins when the latter was still plying her trade in high school. He's loving what he's seen, too.

“She can be one of the best women’s basketball players to ever touch a basketball,” said James Harden. “That’s how good she is. That’s how hard she works.”

Harden's new teammate Paul George, who's from Palmdale, also offered up a rave review.

“You name the top female college girls, she should get that same recognition for what she’s doing, and honestly true freshman, she’s killing it,” the Fresno State product said.