If last summer was Peyton Watson’s time to break out on the basketball recruiting scene, this summer looked to be his opportunity to cement his status as one of the country’s very best prospects.
That rise has been put on hold — as all grassroots basketball events have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic — but when players are back on the court, Watson will surely be there to reaffirm his talent. And college coaches will be watching closely.
Watson — a 6-foot-7 wing from Long Beach, Calif. — had just three scholarship offers heading into last year. Grand Canyon, Montana and Santa Clara were the only programs on that list. His name was nowhere to be found in the recruiting rankings. He wasn’t even a starter on his high school team, playing more of a sixth-man role for senior-stacked Long Beach Poly.
Those around the Poly program knew Watson would be a standout once he got his opportunity. Last summer, others began to take notice.
During the spring, Watson excelled in Nike travel ball but didn’t quite break out nationally since he was playing in the 16U league, an age group below the Nike EYBL circuit that draws top college coaches by the dozens.
He was a last-minute invite to a major USA Basketball camp in July, and that’s when his status as a recruit to keep an eye on took off. New scholarship offers came from Arizona, Maryland, Oregon, Southern Cal, Washington, and national analysts began including his name alongside other prominent, more established prospects.
Rivals.com analyst Eric Bossi wrote that he was “the top surprise” of the camp that featured many five-star recruits, noting him as a player that “causes havoc” on the defensive end. Neither Rivals.com nor 247Sports had Watson in their national rankings at that point. He finally entered those lists in the post-summer updates, and he’s continued his rise in recent months. Now — after a junior season in which he averaged 23.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game at Poly — Rivals has him as the No. 19 player in the 2021 class. 247Sports ranks him No. 11 nationally.
“Peyton Watson is a tremendous talent,” 247Sports national analyst Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader. “I’m really impressed with his development over the last year. I think he’s improved as a shooter and a shotmaker and a scorer. And he’s got a really impressive frame, really good size for the position, long arms, athleticism, the potential to guard multiple positions. And, offensively, he continues to grow. I think he’s catapulted himself into the elite category in the 2021 class.”
He’s also squarely on Kentucky’s radar. UK associate head coach Kenny Payne is the Wildcats’ lead recruiter on Watson, who recently told the Tipton Edits recruiting graphics service that Kentucky is a “dream school” — one of the main programs he grew up watching — along with Duke, Michigan and UCLA.
It’s a safe bet that coaches from those schools — and many others — would have made it a priority to see Watson play on the Nike EYBL circuit if the April recruiting periods hadn’t been canceled. Even with the NCAA recruiting ban still in effect due to COVID-19, interest in Watson continues to flow — Arkansas and Georgetown both extended offers in the past couple of weeks — but he’s been denied an opportunity to showcase his skills this spring.
“I think he was a candidate to blow up in the spring and summer, for sure,” Daniels said. “If you saw him during the high school season, you saw the upside and potential, and you saw that he was coming. And he still has a lot of potential and a lot of upside, and I think he could’ve been a guy that could have really taken off.”
Daniels noted that Watson grew several inches last year, and he’s now “every bit of 6-7 and a legitimate wing prospect that can score it from the perimeter,” a good enough ball handler to keep defenders honest and “a ‘3’ all the way” positionally. His game also seems perfectly suited for one of the star-studded blue bloods, like Kentucky, which has had recent success playing multiple perimeter players at once with everyone getting a chance to star.
Watson has already taken some campus visits — Arizona, Gonzaga and Washington all hosted him in recent months — but his recruitment appears to be wide open with one more year of high school left to go. There are no predictions on his 247Sports Crystal Ball or Rivals Future Cast pages.
“It’s way too early,” Daniels said. “And I don’t think he’s in any kind of hurry either.”
This story was originally published May 08, 2020 7:23 AM.
