James Harden is paying attention to JuJu Watkins. That’s how much of an impression USC’s women’s basketball superstar has made on the basketball world, including the NBA community.
Harden recently had this to say about Watkins to the Los Angeles Times, via USC Athletics:
“She can become one of the best women’s basketball players to ever touch a basketball. That’s how good she is. That’s how hard she works.”
It’s striking that a player with James Harden’s level of achievement and status in basketball would be struck not only by Watkins’ quality, but her work ethic and overall habits. That’s a very specific observation by Harden, one which points to the kind of teammate Watkins is at USC. She isn’t just a standalone talent; she puts in the work and makes her teammates better.
Harden’s compliment is also noteworthy because Harden is one of the great scorers in basketball history. His style might not be aesthetically pleasing, but no one can deny how effective Harden has been at getting to the foul line and creating points in all sorts of ways. Watkins being able to do the same will help USC enormously in a cutthroat Pac-12 Conference.
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