A couple of days ago, after the UConn Huskies women’s basketball program defeated the USC Trojans in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, Damian Lillard made a bold claim regarding JuJu Watkins. As the Trojans’ freshman finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds in the 73-80 loss against Paige Bueckers and co., Lillard compared Watkins’ performance with Carmelo Anthony. Responding to the same, Melo seemed to be in agreeance with his former teammate.
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While JuJu Watkins erupted for a 29-point double-double, Damian Lillard took to X (formerly “Twitter”) comparing the 6ft 2” guard to Carmelo Anthony from his freshman year with the Syracuse Orange.
“Juju like Melo at Syracuse fr… you wana win give her the ball man.”
The apt comparison blew up on social media. During the latest episode of the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, Melo addressed the comments and gave credits to Lillard for drawing similarities between Watkins and the 2002-2003 version of himself. Further, before comparing the 18-year-old to WNBA legend Maya Moore, the NBA megastar lauded the teenager for the immense hard work she’s put in.
“Dame understands how tough that is to do at that level and as a freshman, you going from AAU to 50,000 like in the tournament. I get why he said that. I been watching JuJu for a long time, since high school. The work she put in, I know the people that work with her, I can watch her and see like she’s putting in the work.
She reminds me of Maya Moore a little bit. Just the mentality. But I love it. Like, I’m glad Dame said that sh*t,” Carmelo Anthony said.
JuJu Watkins has had one of the best seasons for a freshman in college basketball history. Trailing only Caitlin Clark in the same stat, JuJu recorded 27.1 points per game. Further, she grabbed 7.3 rebounds and dished out 3.3 assists per game, per ESPN. During the NCAA March Madness, the prodigy also elevated her performance, recording a staggering 27.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game, while leading USC to make an Elite Eight appearance.
The comparisons between Watkins and Melo would’ve been more accurate if the former had won the title as Syracuse did in 2003. However, it is understandable why Damian Lillard would make these similarities.
Like Watkins, even Carmelo Anthony had one of the best seasons in NCAA history for a freshman. Averaging 22.2 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game, per NCAA, Melo took the nation by storm.
Receiving such lofty praise must be encouraging for JuJu. While she did have a phenomenal performance in the 2023-2024 season, we know for a fact that the LA native will be relentless in her pursuit to win the National Championship in the coming years.
