Despite being in recovery from an ACL tear suffered in March, USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins still earned an invite to USA Basketball’s senior training camp over the past weekend. And even though she couldn’t take the court with the potential 2026 FIBA World Cup Team USA members, she revealed that she has begun doing light workouts.
“Whatever I can do, I am trying to maximize that,” Watkins said.
The reigning Wooden Award winner said she’s been able to “pick up the ball a bit more” and do some shooting and handling drills. Watkins was also honest about the fact that the hardest part of her recovery hasn’t been the physical aspect.
“Getting over that mental curve has been the biggest thing,” she added.
The guard attended the Team USA basketball camp at Duke University even though she couldn’t participate. Instead, she chose to learn about the program and from her potential future teammates to prepare in case she’s picked for the squad.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be in this atmosphere, so to live out those dreams, even though it looks different, I’m still blessed to be here,” Watkins said.
Watkins also explained how she felt about the opportunity to be surrounded by professional women’s basketball greats and what lessons she had already begun to pick up from them.
“It’s enough just being [here] and feeling the energy; that’s mostly what I’ve picked up on,” Watkins said. “Hearing everyone’s voices, the communications, the leadership — it’s something that you can see automatically. It brings up your standards, so I’ll definitely be taking some of these lessons back to USC to continue to grow as a leader and a player.