Before the beginning of the season for the USC Trojans, fans have been expecting JuJu Watkins to put up NPOY-worthy performances. Last season, the then Trojans freshman was a contender to the Iowa Hawkeyes senior Caitlin Clark. No wonder a lot of on-court brilliance is expected from her this season. While the Trojans faced issues in winning their season opener against the Ole Miss Rebels, WNBA legend Lisa Leslie cast an iota of doubt over Watkins’ talents.

On Thursday’s episode of Just Women’s Sports, Leslie reflected on the USC’s recent win and why Watkins doesn’t look to be comfortable with her teammates.

Pointing out the excessive number of turnovers, Leslie revealed, “I love JuJu Watkins. I think she’s a phenomenal player… scorer. Her ability to put the ball in the basket. Like she is like you can get this. However, you want it off the dribble between the legs with the step back. The hesi, the Euro left-right… right? She was blocking shots. Like she was… she’s a good shot blocker. I mean everything but… and my but is like, it comes with growth.”

The Trojans had 26 turnovers compared to the Ole Miss Rebels’ 16. Although Watkins was the highest scorer for the team with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 3 steals, the turnover count somewhere reflects that she was not making smooth passes to her teammates and instead looked to tackle all by herself. And Leslie feels that could hint at a greater problem between her and her teammates.

“She reminds me a lot of Candace Parker and not necessarily in style of play. But the idea that I feel like she’s so good and talented but you have to build trust with her. And she doesn’t quite trust her teammates. Yet to me interesting and I think this is my thought if I was coaching USC, which I’m not. I’m not interested, guys. I’m just saying, JuJu is gonna have to trust her teammates more,” mentioned Leslie before also pointing out how it should be a two-way conversation on the floor.

“Her teammates are going to have to trust her when you get to a Championship level team. You’re gonna find that her teammates will drive and kick and they should always be looking for her. And then she’ll find ways to always look for them, yes,” Leslie added an advice for the young guard and the Trojans squad as they plan to move further than the Elite Eight this year.

“And then in the midst of that, yes she’s going to score and she’s going to go off. But she’ll also have that trust to like driving, kicking you’ve got to make other players around you better. And let them hit some shots. It’ll just open it back up more for her,” Leslie gave what might be the next strategy for Watkins & Co.

Leslie drew parallels between Watkins and Candace Parker, one of the most brilliant players during her time with the LA Sparks. So much so that when Parker won her first WNBA Championship in 2016, her teammate Alana Beard opined that it was “the first year she trusted her teammates.”

And much like Parker, Watkins too was the sole shining light for the Trojans this year, until they accepted the incoming transfer from Stanford Cardinals: Kiki Iriafen. Leslie also applauded Iriafen and opined that she should form a strong bond with Watkins.

“But imagine if they really had that cohesion where that pick and roll. She’s dropping it off to her. She’s hitting the big on the inside when the double team comes. She’s turning kicking it back out. Like they’re going to get there and that all comes with trust and chemistry. And that is why they had 26 turnovers. The trust and chemistry is not there yet. And they’re on display in Paris. You got to give them some time. But they definitely have the pieces. I’m excited,” Leslie concluded.

Notably, while Iriafen did score the team’s second-highest 22 points with a double-double with 13 rebounds, the duo according to the 52-year-old lacked cohesion, and that’s why there were so many bad passes leading to TOs. Despite two of their main stars hitting double-doubles, the preseason number third-ranked Trojans could barely win against the number 20-ranked Ole Miss, and that was after Iriafen hit two free throws in the last ten seconds.

Their overreliance on free throws, getting 29 attempts in the game, also reflected that they didn’t pass the ball well. Meanwhile, even ESPN analysts did not like the Trojans’ Paris show.

ESPN Analyst wants more input from this player

After the game ended, one thing worth noting was that the Trojans had ousted the Rebels only in the second quarter. Whereas in the rest, they trailed the number 20-ranked program. Hence, even ESPN analysts noticed that Southern California’s performance wasn’t as smooth as expected.

Taking note of the same, Charlie Creme did make clear that the team relied much on Iriafen and Watkins, and also free throws. However, he also brought to the notice that they were lacking a third player.

“The head-scratcher was Talia von Oelhoffen, who sat for long stretches with foul trouble and took five shots. USC won’t be an elite team without its two stars getting more help from von Oelhoffen,” Creme explained. The guard played with the Oregon State from 2020-24 and decided to transfer to the Trojans for her final year, possibly in hopes of getting a title.

Meanwhile, in the season opener, von Oelhoffen scored only 2 points, and that too off free throws, hitting zilch out of the 5 threes she attempted. Therefore, taking lessons from Leslie’s and Creme’s recommendations, Lindsay Gottlieb should look to teach a new strategy to her mentees.