Sue Bird's 'One Thing' She'd Tell USC Star JuJu Watkins After ACL Tear Speaks Volumes
The biggest story of the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament to this point is USC Trojans superstar JuJu Watkins tearing the ACL in her right knee during her team's second-round game against Mississippi State on March 24.
Many people in the women's basketball community have shown support for Watkins ahead of what's sure to be a long road to recovery for the 19-year-old.
One basketball icon who knows what an ACL injury recovery requires is the legendary Sue Bird, who tore an ACL eight games into her freshman season with the UConn Huskies. And during a March 27 episode of the A Touch More podcast, Bird sent words of support Watkins' way.
"This marks a long rehab, this marks a test physically and mentally. But it is not the end of anything. It is just the end of this particular run," Bird said. "JuJu will be fine, she'll be back on the court. Yes, it's a difficult rehab... I know when I tore my ACL, it changed my life, it changed my career, it changed my trajectory. And I was of a similar age [to JuJu].
"So I get that it feels like a death sentence. But if there would be one thing I could tell JuJu, it's not. It's not," Bird continued. "But that doesn't take away from how awful it is."
Hopefully, Watkins can take these words of wisdom from Bird to heart as she embarks on the rehab and recovery required to get her knee back to full strength.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.