Earl Watson

Watson is a graduate of Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas. In his senior year of high school he averaged 23.4 points, 8.3 assists and 14 rebounds per game.[2]

Watson was a starter in college at UCLA, at one point playing alongside future NBA All-Star Baron Davis. They were the first two freshmen to start at UCLA since the 1979 season. A four-year starter, Watson started the most consecutive games in the history of UCLA basketball.[2] As a senior in 2000–01, he averaged 14.7 points (2nd on the team, 9th in the pac-10), 5.2 assists, (1st on the team, 2nd most in the Pac-10) 3.7 rebounds, 0.3 blocks, and 1.9 steals (most in the Pac-10, most on the team) per game. He earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors.

Watson was selected in the second round (39th overall) by the SuperSonics in the 2001 NBA draft. In the 2007–08 NBA season, Watson averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists with the Sonics. On February 6, 2008, Watson recorded his first-ever triple-double in a game against the Sacramento Kings. Watson logged 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in 32 minutes.[3] It was Seattle's first triple-double since Ray Allen registered one on January 28, 2004, against the Los Angeles Lakers.[3]

On July 17, 2009, Watson was waived by the Thunder.[4] He signed a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers on July 28, 2009.[5]

He signed with the Utah Jazz on September 26, 2010.[6]

On July 10, 2013, he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.[7]

Watson retired as a player on October 2, 2014.

On October 2, 2014, Watson was hired as an assistant coach by the Austin Spurs of the NBA D-League, effectively ending his 13-year playing career.[8] He joined the Phoenix Suns as their new assistant coach on July 30, 2015.[9][10] However, after a poor start to the 2015–16 season, the Suns fired coach Jeff Hornacek and replaced him with Watson as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.[11] While Watson would make his coaching debut on February 2, 2016 at home against the Toronto Raptors, it wouldn't be until February 27, almost a month later, where he'd record his first win with the Suns at home against the Memphis Grizzlies, a team he had previously played under. He would then get his first two-game winning streak on the road as a coach with victories on March 4 against the Orlando Magic and March 6 against the Grizzlies, respectively. After starting out the season with only one victory in ten games for February, he'd end the season with an 8–15 record the rest of the way, including ending the season with a 3–1 stint.

On April 19, the Suns announced that they had agreed to a three-year deal with Watson due to the positive nature he had that was instilled upon the team after he was first hired, making him the full-time head coach of the team. At the time of his promotion to permanent head coach, Watson was the second-youngest head coach in the NBA (behind only Luke Walton), being 36 when he first started coaching.[12] Watson also became the first former UCLA Bruins player to become a head coach in the NBA, as well as the first NBA head coach of Hispanic descent.[13] During Watson's first full season as head coach, he continued to promote the same philosophical mindset he had for the Suns back when he first started coaching them, but he'd also adjust the team's focus to being more involved with defense first and then offense second.[14][15]

After the Suns got off to a 0–3 start to the 2017–18 season, with two blowouts (including the worst loss in franchise history and worst season opening performance in NBA history), Watson was fired on October 22,[16] and replaced on an interim basis by associate head coach Jay Triano for the rest of the season.

Watson's father, Earl, is African-American and his mother, Estella, is Mexican-American. Because his maternal grandparents were born in Mexico, Watson was eligible to play for the Mexico national basketball team.[17][18] Watson has four brothers and one sister.[1] He is also involved with the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Arizona.[13] One of his brothers, Dwayne, was a retired police officer who died due to blood clots in his legs that were dislodged during an altercation. The assailant, Tremaine Quinn, was sentenced to 36 months of probation for the action.[19] That incident would be a major driving force for Earl to take up coaching in basketball.[20] Watson founded the organization "Emagine" to positively impact the youth of his hometown Kansas City, Kansas.[21]

On May 16, 2009 he married[22] actress Jennifer Freeman.[23] They have a daughter together.[24] In August 2010, they separated and their divorce was finalized in 2015.

In August 2018, Watson became engaged to radio personality and television host Joy Taylor.[25] The couple split up and called off the engagement in November 2019.

Watson has stated he takes coaching inspiration from UCLA all-time great John Wooden.[13]

Watson is considered a supporter of the Amateur Athletic Union programs, saying that the right program and right people involved can lead towards more positive experiences for the people involved. He also stated that he likely would have never gotten a scholarship for UCLA if he didn't have the AAU around.[26] That kind of support would ultimately help lead him to join LaVar Ball's Junior Basketball Association committee.

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  or Basketball-Reference.com
• Earl Watson's Student-Athlete Program
• Media related to Earl Watson at Wikimedia Commons