USC women's basketball star JuJu Watkins, a unanimous first-team All-American in 2024 and 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year, has signed an exclusive, multiyear deal with Fanatics and Fanatics Collectibles, the company's trading card arm.
Watkins is the first women's college athlete to sign such a deal.
The deal includes signed Fanatics-branded memorabilia -- including photos, basketballs and more -- and autographed cards and game-worn memorabilia inserted into cards. Watkins has appeared previously in Bowman products, but as a result of the deal, she'll be featured in a USC Trojans uniform in 2025 Bowman University Chrome Basketball cards, with a release date of April 3, 2025.
2025 Bowman University Chrome Basketball also marks the first Bowman card of Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg, who signed a similar deal with Fanatics in January.
Per Fanatics, the deal "will continue into the next level of [Watkins'] career," which is notable as Panini currently holds the exclusive WNBA trading card license. The deal with Watkins continuing when she enters the WNBA means her autographed cards then will be unlicensed.
𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋: We're excited to announce that we've signed an exclusive trading card & memorabilia deal with JuJu Watkins. pic.twitter.com/3pj4VTAvoG
— Topps (@Topps) March 14, 2025
Panini's union deal with the NBA to produce trading cards expires this year, however. Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan recently said on the Geoff Wilson Show that Fanatics will take over NBA cards fully in October and the MLB debut patch conceit will expand to NBA and NFL once rights come over in 2026.
A source from Fanatics said that WNBA rights will not come to Fanatics. Panini and Fanatics are still embroiled in competing lawsuits over league and union licenses.