Inside The Huskies

Donald Watts In Stroke Recovery 2 Years After His Dad Went Through It

The former University of Washington shooting guard has had to nurse his father and himself back to good health.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Donald Watts always has been the good son, the dutiful basketball offspring.

Rather than feel any pressure playing in the shadow of legendary Seattle Sonics point guard Slick Watts, trademark headband, cool nickname and all, the younger Watts became a University of Washington standout, an adept shooting guard as well as an able ball-handler, and helped the Huskies twice advance to the NCAA tournament.

Yet for all of life's cruel ironies, Donald, 46, is recovering from a stroke he suffered a month ago — with his medical emergency coming two-plus years after Slick was significantly disabled by a "massive" stroke of his own.

For several months, the son provided inspirational updates and images of his then-70-year-old father being nursed back to better health, with Donald always in the middle of the care for his dad.

On Friday, Donald posted a video of himself in a Washington State basketball gym, determinedly doing "lines," trying to reach 28 seconds again, describing how he's just 30 days into his rehabilitation.

"I'm not there yet, but I'm trending in the right direction," he wrote on social media.

In comparing strokes, this was never what the father and son ever intended.

This younger Watts similarly has been an inspirational figure around Seattle, heading up self-founded Watts Basketball as a personal trainer, making himself available as a motivational speaker, sharing in UW basketball reunions, involving himself in "Bring Back the Sonics" campaigns and spending considerable time with his family.

The 6-foot-1 Slick Watts, also named Donald and a Mississippi native, played five seasons for Sonics teams in 1974-78, shared in NBA playoff qualifiers and finished up his pro career with single seasons in New Orleans and Houston. Fans loved him for his bald head, stylish basketball appearance and his ability to steal and dish the basketball in an excitable manner for a fairly new franchise. 

He returned to Seattle because the city claimed him as one of its own and became a school teacher until he retired in 2017.

Donald the son was a 6-foot-4 backcourt standout who was named Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior for Lake Washington High School, and played Husky basketball in 1996-99 and averaged 16.9 and 13.1 points per game over his final two seasons.

As for being at WSU while in recovery, Donald Watt has a son (and Slick's grandson), Isaiah Watts, who is a 6-foot-3 freshman guard for the Cougars and has appeared in 16 games for a 14-6 team.

The Watts' fathers and sons, it seems, are never far apart.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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