IN PICS: USC's JuJu Watkins shares stylish photo dump of her life on IG ahead of college basketball season
JuJu Watkins was one of the revelations of the 2023-24 NCAA Women's Basketball season. The USC Trojans guard averaged the second most points per game in the nation during her freshman year, with only Caitlin Clark above her.
Her 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game helped her earn the USBWA National Freshman of the Year, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and Unanimous First Team All-American and All-Pac-12 selections, among other accolades.
It seems that Watkins is ready for the return of college hoops, as she posted a series of photos of activities she's been doing during her off-season. Key among them was a photograph of her wearing a Trojans jersey for what seems to be a commercial.
You can also see pictures of her doing different activities, like attending a concert, sitting in as a speaker, and also pictures of her French bulldog.
JuJu Watkins' newest NIL deal: NYX Professional Makeup
NYX Professional Makeup has been making moves in the world of women's sports, including sponsorship deals with the WNBA’s New York Liberty and NWSL’s Angel City Football Club.
They have now also expanded to college hoops, signing a NIL deal with JuJu Watkins, which will see the player participate in social media advertisement and in-person retail displays.
“I am thrilled to partner with NYX Professional Makeup to help further amplify their mission to inspire beauty enthusiasts around the world and embrace their own personal style. NYX is all about breaking boundaries and celebrating individuality, which resonates deeply with me both as an athlete and as a person,” Watkins said. “I’m looking forward to working with a brand that embraces creativity and encourages everyone to feel confident in their own skin.”
The deal is a historic one for women's hoops, with JuJu Watkins becoming the first female basketball college player to join in a project with a beauty products firm. At the moment, Watkins' NIL deals are valued at $576,000. That ranks JuJu Watkins No. 6 among female college basketball players in NIL valuation.
Sadly, it also shows there are ways to go yet to close the gap between males and females in NIL deals. At the moment, Flau'Jae Johnson leads the rankings in women's hoops NIL deals, with a valuation of $1.5 million.
Compare that to Cooper's Flagg's $2.6 million, who leads the rankings for male college basketball players, or to Shedeur Sanders' $6.2 million.
Shedeur Sanders has the highest NIL valuation out of all student-athletes. There's one outlier here, LSU's Livvy Dunne, who is second overall among all student-athletes and has a valuation of $4 million.
She was the only woman in the top 20, and back in January, was joined by Angel Reese and Flau'Jae Johnson (she's now 24th overall) in that distinction. Back in October 2022, there were six women in the top 10, according to CNBC.