The 2022 WNBA Draft went center stage Monday night on ESPN. The Atlanta Dream took Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard with the first pick, the Indiana Fever selected Baylor forward NaLyssa Smith at No. 2 and the Washington Mystics went for Ole Miss frontliner Shakira Austin at No. 3.
MaxPreps national basketball editor Clay Kallam, who has covered girls and women's basketball for about five decades, couldn't get another name out of his head.
Juju Watkins.
The 6-foot, do-everything junior guard for
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) is the 2021-22 MaxPreps National Player of the Year. She averaged 25.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.9 blocks per game for the 30-2 Trailblazers, who finished No. 3 in the final MaxPreps Top 25.
Watkins, who transferred to Sierra Canyon from Windward (Los Angeles) after her sophomore season, finished 2022 in style. In the Open Division state championship game, she tallied 23 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, six blocks and three steals in an 85-61 win over nationally-ranked Archbishop Mitty (San Jose).
That performance helped Watkins edge UCLA-bound point guard Kiki Rice of national champion Sidwell Friends (Washington D.C.) for the award.
"Watkins is the first high school player I've seen who looks like she could jump straight to the WNBA," Kallam said. "Sometimes high school players have elite skills. Sometimes they have the ability to rise to the occasion. Sometimes they have the body of a pro. Juju has all three, plus that indefinable something that elevates a really good player into a star."
Watkins is the first junior to win the award in its 17-year history and the second non-senior — UConn's Azzi Fudd won it as a sophomore for St. John's (Washington, D.C.) in 2019.
The list of previous winners includes Maya Moore (2007), Breanna Stewart (2012), A'ja Wilson (2014), Sabrina Ionescu (2016) and Paige Bueckers (2020).
Comparing a high school junior to such elites of the game would normally make Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki uncomfortable.
She's led the Trailblazers to five state titles in five appearances and has been immersed in the Southern California scene as a player and coach for more than two decades. Komaki has competed against the best of the best and is admittedly hard to impress.
But with her unrelenting work ethic and unending skill set, Watkins won over Komaki, never resting upon a lofty reputation as the best player in the country.
"She outranks every single kid I've ever had in every single category," Komaki said. "Talk about scoring in the open court. She's the best. Long distance shooting. Again, the best. Rebounder. Competitor. Passer. Poise. You name it and she blows by the field. She always brings her best to the table. She constantly impresses."
Watkins missed the first week of Sierra Canyon's fall practices while leading USA Basketball to a gold medal at the FIBA U16 Americas women's championship in Mexico. She was the tournament MVP averaging 20 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 steals and 3.7 assists per six contests.
Fresh off that performance, Watkins arrived back home on a Tuesday, the night before Sierra Canyon's first 6 a.m. Wednesday practice. Komaki told her it would be totally acceptable to miss and that they'd see her at Thursday's practice.
"But she said ‘No coach, I'll see you there,' and she was there, bright and early Wednesday," Komaki said. "Dressed, on time and ready to go. ... We already knew what type of athlete and player she was from playing against her. But that told us from the get-go what kind of competitor she is. How devoted she was to the group."
Komaki got her second big dose of Watkins' edge and commitment during a preseason team scrimmage that was also attended by college coaches. Watkins' side was down eight with less than a minute to go.
"She completely took over," Komaki said. "Steal, layup. Steal, 3-pointer. Steal, 3-pointer. Her team won and she celebrated like it was for a state championship.
"I remember when coaching against her, thinking ‘How do you stop that? You can't stop her.' Here I was witnessing it in practice and thinking ‘This is why she's so great.' I mean, who does that? The super elite only do that. That is not normal behavior. That's elite behavior."
Though Watkins wants to win at everything, she's balanced as a person and teammate.
"Competing against her, I knew she was a competitive beast," Komaki said. "You don't see her smile on the court. So you don't know what to expect once she's on your team. As it turns out, she's really sweet. She fit in immediately based on her being a humble, hard working kid and a great teammate. She's not caught up in social media. She somehow stays grounded and wants to serve the community of basketball. She's on that kind of mission."
Watkins, the youngest of four children, told
Spectrum News that she wants to be an ambassador for the women's game. In February, she became the first female high school sports athlete to agree to be represented by
Klutch Sports Group for NIL (name, image, likeness) opportunities.
Her power on the court is her versatility, which was on full display before 7,000 fans at Sacramento's Golden 1 Center for the state title. Mitty was defenseless.
Watching Watkins that day, Kallam was convinced she could play immediately at the highest level. In fact, he said, if she was in Monday's draft he would have picked her No. 1 overall.
"To paraphrase rock journalist Jon Landau after he watched Bruce Springsteen: I have seen the future of women's basketball and its name is Juju Watkins," Kallam said.
Past MaxPreps National Players of the Year
2006 — Jacki Gemelos, St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.)
2007 — Maya Moore, Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.)
2008 — Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas)
2009 — Skylar Diggins, South Bend Washington (South Bend, Ind.)
2010 — Chiney Ogwumike, Cy-Fair
2011 — Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
2012 — Breanna Stewart, Cicero-North Syracuse (Cicero, N.Y.)
2013 — Diamond DeShields, Norcross (Ga.)
2014 — A'ja Wilson, Heathwood Hall Episcopal (Columbia, S.C.)
2015 — Ali Patberg, Columbus North (Columbus, Ind.)
2016 — Sabrina Ionescu, Miramonte (Orinda, Calif.)
2017 — Megan Walker, Monacan (Richmond, Va.)
2018 — Christyn Williams, Central Arkansas Christian (North Little Rock, Ark.)
2019 — Azzi Fudd, St. John's (Washington, D.C.)
2020 — Paige Bueckers, Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.)
2021 — Raven Johnson, Westlake (Atlanta)
