Gatorade releases tribute to USC guard JuJu Watkins after season-ending injury

After defeating Kansas State in Saturday’s Sweet 16 game, USC is heading to the Elite 8. The Trojans will do so without JuJu Watkins, though, after she suffered a torn ACL earlier in the tournament.

In the aftermath of the season-ending injury, Gatorade paid tribute to Watkins. The company released a new ad titled, “Setbacks only set the stage” as part of the star guard’s NIL deal.

Watkins joined forces with Gatorade in October 2024 as one of the most notable additions to her portfolio of NIL deals. Her On3 NIL Valuation jumped to $739,000 amid a huge sophomore season at USC.

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Watkins is one of the many big names on Gatorade’s roster of athletes. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, UConn guard Paige Bueckers and Duke forward Cooper Flagg are some of the basketball headliners.

Watkins is one of the biggest names in the NIL space. Repped by Klutch Sports, she also has partnerships with Nike, Fanatics, Mondelēz and State Farm, among many others. She also signed a historic multi-year deal with Fanatics and will receive her own trading card. Watkins’ On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 6 in the college women’s basketball NIL rankings.

At the time of her injury, Watkins was in the midst of an impressive sophomore season while leading USC to a No. 1 seed. She was averaging 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game.

More on JuJu Watkins’ injury

JuJu Watkins suffered her knee injury in USC’s victory over Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That not only meant she’d be out for the remainder of March Madness, but she’d also miss most – if not all – of the 2025-26 season.

Watkins’ injury is the same one Paige Bueckers suffered ahead of her junior season. The UConn star bounce back to put up strong numbers once again and helped lead the Huskies to a Final Four appearance a year ago. After Watkins went down, Bueckers expressed her support.

“Your heart breaks for her,” Bueckers said. “Just the devastation that, especially during right now, during the tournament, of not being able to be out there with your team during the most important part of the year. So I know especially, we empathize for her.

“We’ve been there, and we know how much it sucks. But you don’t get to be as good as JuJu if you don’t have a great motor, a great work ethic, and she’s going to attack this process just as she’s attacked basketball, and just as she’s great at basketball, she’s going to be great at this recovery process.”