Why JuJu Watkins’ Nike LeBron NXXT Gen is a step toward her own signature shoe

LOS ANGELES — On an outdoor court, in the neighborhood of Watts, a group of boys and girls circled JuJu Watkins, anxiously awaiting a chance to take a picture with their hometown hero.

Countless children swarmed the University of Southern California women’s basketball phenom, prompting a towering security guard to abruptly end the photo opportunity. But she continued smiling and taking pictures next to any kid who asked.

The 20-year-old Watkins brought out her entire block, and then some, for the rollout of a brand-new sneaker she teamed up with Nike Basketball to design under one of the signature lines headlined by Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

On Wednesday, ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A, the global sportswear company officially unveiled the “Silver Lining” Nike LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu. The moment notably distinguishes Watkins as the first athlete to co-create a basketball shoe for King James’ NXXT series. After a limited local release, the NXXT Gen by JuJu shoe won’t officially hit retail globally until this summer, priced at $160 per pair.

“It feels amazing,” Watkins told a group of reporters. “I mean, this has been in the works for so long. So, to finally see it come to life — and be given this responsibility — I’m really proud of it. I’m so grateful for LeBron and the Nike team for giving me this opportunity.”

For her NXXT Gen by JuJu shoe, Nike — intentionally and strategically — took Watkins through a full, 18-month design process. That’s on the short end of the footwear industry-standard 1 ½- to 2-year timeline that it takes to design and release a signature shoe. Though Nike hasn’t announced whether Watkins will get her own shoe, the NXXT Gen by JuJu paves the way for an imminent signature treatment.

“It was really cool to get my feet wet in this process in helping create something,” Watkins told Andscape. “I’m definitely looking forward to the day I get my signature, for sure. But, for now, this was a really cool experience that allowed me to get a taste of what I want my own shoe to be like — hopefully — in the future.” 

James debuted the Nike LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu on court during a Feb. 7 game between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. A few days later, Watkins — who’s still recovering from a torn ACL she suffered in May 2025 — took her sneaker back to her neighborhood in Watts to promote it proudly.

“JuJu is a great ambassador of today’s game, and this shoe gives her one more tool to chart her own path on and off the court,” said James in a press release. “Nike footwear has been another way for me to share my story with athletes and fans around the world, so it’s exciting to share the NXXT Gen platform with JuJu for a shoe that will inspire a new generation of hoopers to put in the work and believe in themselves.”  

The brand hosted the “JuJu NXXT Gen Jam” event at the Nike Community Store, behind which stood a wall stamped with “Give Watts Your Flowers,” where family, friends and fans who attended were encouraged to “Plant Your Dreams” by writing and displaying positive personal messages that everyone could read. Nike opened the store in 2020, two years before Watkins first signed a name, image and likeness (NIL) endorsement contract with the brand, ahead of her senior season at Sierra Canyon High School.

At 18, Watkins became the youngest women’s basketball player to land a deal with Nike. She joined the brand as part of its debut NIL class of hoopers, notably alongside Caitlin Clark and James’ son, Bronny.

By October 2024, Watkins signed a lucrative, multiyear contract extension with Nike, according to ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania, making it one of the richest shoe endorsement deals in women’s basketball.

As part of their re-upped partnership, Nike had a proposition for Watkins, who was then 19, heading into her second college season after averaging 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.3 steals. She also set the NCAA Division I freshman scoring record and was a consensus first-team All-American.

The brand asked if Watkins wanted to help design a new silhouette for a co-created Nike LeBron shoe. She didn’t hesitate.

“When I got the opportunity, I was like, ‘Of course,’” Watkins recalled. “To be doing this so early in my career. … I know the talk of a shoe is more down the line. So, to be able to co-create so early, it’s just a really surreal moment for me.”

Early on, Watkins admittedly felt overwhelmed working on the design of her first shoe.

“Honestly, just starting [on a shoe] from scratch — that was kind of crazy to me,” she said. “[Nike] showed me a lot of renderings, and I really couldn’t grasp it. So, it was definitely crazy to be a part of a process where you can’t really see where it’s going until they bring you samples in real time. It was really exciting, and my first time doing something so big. So, it was a really cool experience.”

Nike has a formula when it comes to designing product, particularly for athletes who are considered for receiving the signature treatment. Historically, the brand has worked with players to design player-exclusive (PE) editions of either a signature shoe from another athlete, such as the Nike LeBron, or a more widely worn model, such as the Nike G.T. series.

Yet, the Nike LeBron NXXT by JuJu ultimately materialized in a very — dare we say — transcendent way. It’s not quite a signature model, but it’s exponentially more than a PE. Above all, it’s a shoe that the Nike Basketball design team manically obsessed over.

“There were a lot of rounds of prototyping,” Klein told Andscape. “Everything is hyper-considered on this shoe.”

With Watkins, Nike derived a different design formula for athlete-inspired footwear. There’s also speculation that the 6-foot-2 generational guard will eventually join current Nike Basketball signature athletes Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson, with Clark’s line set to debut this spring, and Paige Bueckers also waiting in the pipeline. Together, that group would form a dream team of signature headliners for Nike in women’s basketball.

“Athletes like JuJu who have so much trajectory, what you want to do is prep them and guide them into the process of design, because it’s different,” Ross Klein, creative director and vice president of Nike Basketball, told Andscape. “When you deal with an athlete for the first time, and you’re guiding them through all these decisions, there’s a lot that’s never been thought about — on our side, as well. 

“We have to work through foams, rubbers, thicknesses and lacing,” Klein continued. “Because we’re going through learning about each other. But it’s all in the trajectory of somebody that’s going to be lifting up into a space of what we see her as, which is an ultimate in terms of the game of basketball at Nike.”

Nike regarded Watkins so highly that the brand took an active model from King James’ takedown line and completely re-engineered the silhouette specifically tailored to the USC star’s style of play.

In 2023, the Nike LeBron NXXT Gen series launched as a budget-friendly version of James’ numbered signature line, directly connected to 2022’s Nike LeBron XX, hence the stylization of “NXXT.” The line yielded two more models — 2024’s NXXT Gen AMPD and 2025’s NXXT Genisus Future. Bronny James has headlined both in his first two NBA seasons.

Before crafting the fourth iteration of the NXXT Gen series, Nike Basketball’s design team pinpointed Watkins as a new inspiration for the shoe and closely examined her game, both offensively and defensively while seeking to solve for her movement.

“JuJu has this unique ability to, what you’d call, ‘Take space,’” Jarrett Mann, Nike’s vice president of global basketball footwear, told Andscape. “When she’s coming off a screen, the most obvious route is to go around the big [center or power forward] that’s hedging. But, she’ll dice between two defenders, or when she’s coming down on a fastbreak, she’ll take a long euro step. So, the main mechanics we talked about were her side-to-side motion and how we could maintain stability but also deliver responsiveness.

“Her ability to shoot the gaps is bar none, especially in the women’s game,” Mann continued. “We saw that as a sharp point, and asked, ‘How can we enable athletes to take sharper dives?’ They’re taking space, not looking for open space. And that’s where you see some of that tech supporting that play style.”

The final product of the NXXT Gen by JuJu features a full-length Nike React midsole for precise cutting and durability. Incorporated into the forefoot are a pair of Air Zoom units. According to Mann, it’s the first time Nike has used a dual Air bag system since the self-lacing Adapt BB model from 2019.

Watkins recalls the initial conversations that led to the shoe’s subtle beauty and sleekness.

“One of the first questions for my first shoe was, ‘What color do you want it to be?’ I’ve always loved the color silver. I feel like it looks good on shoes, and I thought it would really look good on the court playing. Silver was my first idea for the first one, but there’s a bunch of more colorways to come.”

The lead silver took on new meaning and larger significance after Watkins tore her ACL on May 24, 2025, during the second round of the NCAA tournament

“The ‘Silver Lining’ concept was a nod to the journey of where she is right now. We tried our best to stay out of her recovery, and encourage her to see the silver lining through it all. She had a  really good first two years, then had it taken away. So, that was the mindset — zooming into her ability to find the positives through it all.”

Despite the devastating punctuation to her sophomore season, which deflated USC’s national title run, Watkins won three national player of the year awards. Since she’s expected to miss the entire 2025-26 college season, the sidelined star will only be wearing the NXXT Gen by JuJu as a lifestyle shoe — for now.

Yet Watkins made sure that every USC teammate and every player on the roster of her former high school team at Sierra Canyon were the first to receive pairs of the NXXT Gen by JuJu.

“I wouldn’t want anybody else to wear them early,” Watkins said. “I’ve gotten responses from my teammates, who wore them today, about feeling so light on their feet and being able to move. One of my teammates told me they felt like they were floating.

“I’m just super excited to get to wear them when I start back playing.”

After 18 or so months spent considering every detail of an athlete’s trajectory, Klein can now quickly and confidently articulate what he’s learned about what Watkins wants from the product.

“JuJu loves sophistication and a crafted, classic identity, with a twist of humor and youth,” Klein told Andscape. “This is a puzzle we have to figure out, which is really exciting.”

Yet, the Nike Basketball design team already discovered the revelation that led to Watkins’ favorite elements of her NXXT Gen shoe. The likely future WNBA No. 1 overall pick often carries a book for doodling—drawings from which are incorporated throughout the design, including “By JuJu” stitched inside each tongue of each shoe.

“She doodles all the time,” Klein told Andscape. “Which is good, because if she’s a natural storyteller, then you can kind of pull these stories of what means the most and have them work through the journey of a product.”

Inside the Nike Community Store, Watkins fielded one final question about the Nike LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu, as a glowing “WATTS MADE” sign hung above her.

Why should people buy your shoe?

“Support,” Watkins said with a smile before pausing. “I just think it’s a great shoe. I wouldn’t have put it out if I didn’t want to buy it myself. It’s dope. It’s fresh. It’s new. I would buy it.”

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