Fanatics Collectibles has signed USC women’s basketball superstar JuJu Watkins to an exclusive multi-year trading card and memorabilia deal, the company announced Friday.
According to Fanatics, the deal is the first of its kind for the company with a female collegiate athlete. Financial details for the agreement weren’t announced.
The deal with Watkins will include licensed trading cards featuring the guard in her USC uniform as well as autographed memorabilia.
Previously included in licensed Bowman U NOW’s print-to-demand drops, Watkins will make her first appearance in a Trojans jersey in a flagship trading card set as part of the 2025 Bowman University Chrome Basketball release.
Watkins’ previous appearance in 2022 Bowman Chrome University didn’t include USC team logos.
In addition to trading cards, the deal will feature autographed memorabilia, including photographs, basketballs and more. Game-worn memorabilia will be included in trading cards, with Fanatics noting some memorabilia “celebrating marquee moments and milestones.”
Watkins’ most recent trading card ended up spawning a viral moment with the card image’s original photographer. Created to celebrate USC’s first Big Ten regular season title, the card’s image showed Watkins signaling to the crowd as she headed to the locker room.
The photographer, noticing the image was cropped to remove part of her hand and wrist, requested Topps update the image to his original composition — to his surprise, Topps did exactly that.
To date, the most expensive public sale for a Watkins card is the $5,000 paid for a 2022 Bowman University Chrome Red Shimmer /5 PSA 10 in 2024.
Watkins, a leading candidate for Player of the Year, averaged 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists during the regular season for the No. 4-ranked Trojans.
Though Watkins has dominated on the court — she set the NCAA’s freshman scoring record last year — she can’t join the WNBA until 2027. According to the Los Angeles Times, domestic players must turn 22 during the calendar year or have graduated from a four-year university prior to the draft.
Watkins is just 19 in her sophomore season.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.