Earl Watson facts for kids
Watson with the Indiana Pacers in 2009
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| San Diego Toreros | |
|---|---|
| Assistant coach | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | June 12, 1979 Kansas City, Kansas, U.S. |
| High school | Washington (Kansas City, Kansas) |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 199 lb (90 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College | UCLA (1997–2001) |
| NBA Draft | 2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 39th overall |
| Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics | |
| Pro career | 2001–2014 |
| Coaching career | 2014–present |
| League | West Coast Conference |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 2001–2002 | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 2002–2005 | Memphis Grizzlies |
| 2005–2006 | Denver Nuggets |
| 2006–2009 | Seattle SuperSonics / Oklahoma City Thunder |
| 2009–2010 | Indiana Pacers |
| 2010–2013 | Utah Jazz |
| 2013–2014 | Portland Trail Blazers |
| As coach: | |
| 2014–2015 | Austin Spurs (assistant) |
| 2015–2016 | Phoenix Suns (assistant) |
| 2016–2017 | Phoenix Suns |
| 2021–2023 | Toronto Raptors (assistant) |
| 2024–present | San Diego (assistant) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Career West Coast Conference statistics | |
| Points | 5,593 (6.4 ppg) |
| Assists | 3,871 (4.4 apg) |
| Steals | 873 (1.0 spg) |
Earl Joseph Watson Jr. (born June 12, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros.
Earl Watson played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. He was a four-year starter and was named an all-conference player in his senior year. In 2001, he was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft. He played for 13 seasons in the NBA with seven different teams. After his playing career, he became a coach in 2014. He was also the head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 2016 to 2017.
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High School and College Basketball Journey
Earl Watson went to Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas. In his final year of high school, he was a star player. He averaged 23.4 points, 8.3 assists, and 14 rebounds per game.
Watson then became a starter for the UCLA college team. He even played alongside future NBA All-Star Baron Davis. They were the first two freshmen to start at UCLA since 1979. Earl Watson holds the record for starting the most games in a row in UCLA basketball history. In his senior year (2000–01), he averaged 14.7 points and 5.2 assists per game. He was also the top player in steals in the Pac-10 conference. For his excellent performance, he earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors.
Earl Watson's NBA Playing Career
The Seattle SuperSonics picked Earl Watson in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft. He was the 39th player chosen overall. During the 2007–08 NBA season, Watson averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists for the Sonics.
On February 6, 2008, Watson achieved his first triple-double in a game. This means he had double-digit numbers in three different stats: points, rebounds, and assists. He scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and made 10 assists in just 32 minutes. This was the first triple-double for Seattle since 2004.
After leaving the Thunder, he signed a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers in 2009. He then joined the Utah Jazz in 2010. In 2013, he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Earl Watson's last NBA game was on May 12, 2014. It was Game 4 of the 2014 Western Conference Semi-Finals. He played for a short time and did not record any stats. The Trail Blazers won that game, but they lost the series in 5 games. Earl Watson officially retired as a player on October 2, 2014.
NBA Player Statistics: Regular Season
Here are Earl Watson's stats from his regular season games in the NBA.
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | Seattle | 64 | 0 | 15.1 | .453 | .364 | .639 | 1.3 | 2.0 | .9 | .1 | 3.6 |
| 2002–03 | Memphis | 79 | 2 | 17.3 | .435 | .341 | .721 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 1.1 | .2 | 5.5 |
| 2003–04 | Memphis | 81 | 14 | 20.6 | .371 | .245 | .652 | 2.2 | 5.0 | 1.1 | .2 | 5.7 |
| 2004–05 | Memphis | 80 | 14 | 22.6 | .426 | .319 | .659 | 2.1 | 4.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 7.7 |
| 2005–06 | Denver | 46 | 10 | 21.2 | .429 | .395 | .627 | 1.9 | 3.5 | .8 | .2 | 7.5 |
| 2005–06 | Seattle | 24 | 0 | 25.1 | .432 | .420 | .731 | 3.0 | 5.4 | 1.3 | .1 | 11.5 |
| 2006–07 | Seattle | 77 | 25 | 27.9 | .383 | .329 | .735 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 1.3 | .3 | 9.4 |
| 2007–08 | Seattle | 78 | 73 | 29.1 | .454 | .371 | .766 | 2.9 | 6.8 | .9 | .1 | 10.7 |
| 2008–09 | Oklahoma City | 68 | 18 | 26.1 | .384 | .235 | .755 | 2.7 | 5.8 | .7 | .2 | 6.6 |
| 2009–10 | Indiana | 79 | 52 | 29.4 | .426 | .288 | .710 | 3.0 | 5.1 | 1.3 | .2 | 7.8 |
| 2010–11 | Utah | 80 | 13 | 19.6 | .410 | .336 | .671 | 2.3 | 3.5 | .8 | .2 | 4.3 |
| 2011–12 | Utah | 50 | 2 | 20.7 | .338 | .192 | .674 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 1.1 | .4 | 3.0 |
| 2012–13 | Utah | 48 | 4 | 17.3 | .308 | .179 | .680 | 1.8 | 4.0 | .8 | .2 | 2.0 |
| 2013–14 | Portland | 24 | 0 | 6.7 | .273 | .286 | 1.000 | .6 | 1.2 | .2 | .0 | 0.5 |
| Career | 878 | 227 | 22.2 | .411 | .324 | .703 | 2.3 | 4.4 | 1.0 | .2 | 6.4 |
NBA Player Statistics: Playoffs
These are Earl Watson's stats from his playoff games.
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Memphis | 4 | 0 | 15.5 | .533 | .000 | 1.000 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 1.3 | .0 | 4.8 |
| 2005 | Memphis | 4 | 0 | 18.5 | .333 | .111 | 1.000 | 2.5 | 3.8 | .8 | .3 | 4.8 |
| 2014 | Portland | 4 | 0 | 3.5 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .3 | .3 | .0 | .0 | 0.0 |
| Career | 12 | 0 | 12.5 | .400 | .077 | 1.000 | 1.7 | 1.9 | .7 | .1 | 3.2 |
Earl Watson's Coaching Career
After retiring as a player, Earl Watson became an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs in the NBA D-League on October 2, 2014. He then joined the Phoenix Suns as an assistant coach on July 30, 2015.
Later, the Suns fired their head coach, and Earl Watson became the interim head coach for the rest of the 2015–16 season. His first game as head coach was on February 2, 2016. He got his first win on February 27 against the Memphis Grizzlies, a team he used to play for. He ended that season with an 8–15 record.
On April 19, the Suns made Watson their full-time head coach. He signed a three-year deal. At 36 years old, he was one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA. He also became the first former UCLA Bruins player to become an NBA head coach. He was also the first NBA head coach of Hispanic descent.
During his first full season as head coach, Watson focused on defense first, then offense. Before the 2017–18 season, the Suns started with a 0–3 record. Because of this poor start, Watson was fired on October 22, 2017.
After leaving the Suns, Watson worked with the Junior Basketball Association in 2018. From 2019 to 2021, he was a studio analyst for Pac-12 Network and NBA TV. On August 2, 2021, Watson was hired as an assistant coach by the Toronto Raptors. Most recently, on September 17, 2024, he joined the San Diego Toreros as an assistant coach.
Head Coaching Record
This table shows Earl Watson's record as a head coach in the NBA.
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix | 2015–16 | 33 | 9 | 24 | .273 | 4th in Pacific | — | — | — | – | Missed playoffs |
| Phoenix | 2016–17 | 82 | 24 | 58 | .293 | 5th in Pacific | — | — | — | — | Missed playoffs |
| Phoenix | 2017–18 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 118 | 33 | 85 | .280 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
Earl Watson's Personal Life and Community Work
Earl Watson's father is African-American, and his mother is Mexican-American. Because his maternal grandparents were born in Mexico, he could have played for the Mexico national basketball team. Earl has four brothers and one sister.
A difficult event in his family's life became a major reason for Earl to start coaching basketball. He also founded an organization called "Emagine" to help young people in his hometown of Kansas City, Kansas.
On May 16, 2009, he married actress Jennifer Freeman. They have a daughter named Isabella Amora Watson. They separated in 2011. In September 2018, Watson and Fox Sports 1 personality Joy Taylor announced their engagement.
Watson has said that he gets coaching ideas from the famous UCLA coach John Wooden. He supports Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) programs, believing they can give positive experiences to young athletes. He even said he might not have gotten a scholarship to UCLA without AAU. He is also a part-owner of an AAU program called Earl Watson Elite. He also joined the committee for LaVar Ball's Junior Basketball Association.
Earl Watson also started the Earl Watson Early Childhood Center, a preschool in his hometown of Kansas City. He has created 70 Earl Watson Elite travel teams on the west coast, which has helped him connect with young basketball players. Being the first NBA head coach of Latino descent has allowed Earl to be a leader for diversity in sports. He has also received several awards, including:
- 2019 UCLA Latino Alumnus of the Year
- NAHREP – National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professions
- 2017 Vanguard Award
- NCLR – National Council of La Raza – Roberto Clemente Lifetime Achievement Award
- Establishing the Earl Watson Early Childhood Center in 2013
- 2006 Reasons to Believe Award
See also
In Spanish: Earl Watson para niños
