"I hate watching myself, it's cringy to me": JuJu Watkins makes her feelings clear on working with LeBron James' Uninterrupted
JuJu Watkins, who is just in her sophomore year at the University of South California (USC), has already accomplished so much in her career. In November, it was announced that LeBron James' production company, Uninterrupted, is working on a docuseries called "On the Rise: JuJu Watkins," and the weekly episodes began releasing on Nov. 23.
On the "Good Game with Sarah Spain" podcast, Watkins was asked how she was adjusting to having the production crew follow her everywhere and about her overall experience working with Uninterrupted.
"It’s definitely been an adjustment with the cameras being around. And I think one of the worst parts, well not the worst part, but it’s like me watching the film back. I hate watching myself, it’s cringy to me, so I’ve definitely had to get used to that.", she said. (20:20 onwards)
When speaking about James' production company, she further added:
"But Uninterrupted has been great, in terms of like making the decisions, agreeing to the edits, because there have been a lot of those from our standpoint. They’ve just been really patient with me throughout this whole process. This was like one of the biggest projects I’ve worked on now, I’m so excited for it. But yeah, I have not watched it at all, I watched some of the edits but I’ve heard really good reviews so I’m happy about that.”
JuJu Watkins' relationship with Uninterrupted and LeBron James
JuJu Watkins went to the same high school as LeBron James' sons (Sierra Canyon). Then, in October 2022, she became the first female high school athlete to sign an NIL deal. The deal was with Klutch Sports Group, the same agency that represents LeBron James. Ever since then, she caught James' eye, and he took her under his wing for mentorship.
![LeBron James and wife, Savannah, attend the USC Trojans game to watch their son Bronny [Image source: Imagn]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/22265995-1734970003.jpeg?w=500)
Following this deal and her signing with the USC Trojans (the same college as Bronny James), LeBron started visiting her games to help her build the caliber to become a superstar. On "Podcast P" with Paul George, Watkins spoke about how LeBron inspires her now and then with motivational messages and advice.
"Keep going, just stuff like that. It's already inspiring to see how far he's come. For him to really take his time out of his day to come watch us play, it's amazing.", she said.
In October 2022, following her deal with Klutch Sports, she also signed an NIL deal with Nike. However, when she signed an extension for that deal in 2024, she became one of the richest college basketball players. After the extension deal was announced, LeBron took to Instagram to send a message to Watkins.
"Gotta keep you right Ju!" LeBron wrote on his Instagram story.
In December 2023, when Bronny James made his USC debut, LeBron also watched the first half of the USC women's team against UC Riverside. Subsequently, he had only eight words for Watkins' game:
"She's the next greatest thing in women's basketball," he said.
Following this, JuJu Watkins also signed an NIL deal with Uninterrupted, and that is when the idea of this docuseries began. Indeed, greatness recognizes greatness.