The LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu Arrived While Watkins Was Out

Nike released the LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu in a colorway called “With Love” on June 12, roughly fifteen months after JuJu Watkins tore the ACL in her right knee and stopped playing. She had not appeared in a game in over a year when her shoe went on sale. That is an unusual position for a brand to release into, and it says something about how Nike reads her.

The NXXT Gen line arrived in 2023 as the takedown tier of LeBron James’ signature program, the version built for team budgets and high school gyms rather than for the flagship buyer. It has always been the practical end of the line. What makes this one different is the authorship: Andscape describes the by JuJu build as the first athlete-created model in the NXXT series, which puts Watkins somewhere between a player exclusive and a signature athlete. She has been clear about the distinction herself, saying she is looking forward to the day she gets her signature and calling this a taste of what she wants her own shoe to be. Nike has announced no signature model for her, and the gap between those two things is the whole subject. Our LeBron NXXT Gen hub tracks the rest of the line.

The shoe runs full-length Nike React foam with forefoot Air Zoom units, a jewel Swoosh, and 16mm laces. The personal details are the ones that carry: a quilted flower pattern across the collar and tongue, and a “By JuJu” doodle on the heel in her own hand. “With Love” is Nike’s own colorway name, not an outlet’s invention, and Nike’s color description reads Light Crimson, Laser Orange and Bright Crimson, which lands it squarely in USC territory. That is by design. When the line debuted in “Silver Lining” at NBA All-Star Weekend in February, Nike said the colorways to follow would honor Watts, Los Angeles and USC. This is the USC one. A “Muted Bronze” pair rounds out the run. One spelling note for anyone searching: Nike’s product page writes the model as “By Juju” while its newsroom writes “by JuJu,” and the newsroom has her name right.

The case for Watkins does not need the shoe to prop it up. She averaged 27.1 points as a freshman, second nationally, and scored 920 points that season, a national freshman record. She put 51 on Stanford. As a sophomore she averaged 23.9 and reached 1,000 career points in 38 games, the second-fastest in Division I history, and swept the Naismith, the Wooden and the AP national player of the year award. Her career total sits at 1,709 points, ninth all-time at USC. Then came March 24, 2025, a second-round NCAA tournament game against Mississippi State that USC won, and the knee. She missed the entire 2025-26 season after USC announced in September that she would redshirt to focus on recovery.

Where things stand now is worth stating carefully, because it is easy to get ahead of. Watkins returned to the court during USC’s summer camp work this year, and head coach Lindsay Gottlieb has said she is stronger and faster and in the best shape of her career. She is expected to play in USC’s 2026-27 opener against UNLV in Las Vegas. No source has reported a formal full-contact clearance or a hard return date, so “back practicing and expected for the opener” is as far as the reporting goes. Nike, for its part, signed her in October 2022 out of Sierra Canyon in a five-athlete NIL class that also included Caitlin Clark and Bronny James, then extended her in October 2024. Releasing a co-designed shoe through a lost season is the clearest signal available that the extension was not conditional on box scores.

Retail is $170, which puts it near the top of the takedown tier rather than in it comfortably. Andscape pegs the NXXT Gen line at $160, so either the by JuJu build carries a premium or the line has moved, and Nike has not said which. For comparison, the numbered LeBron 23 sits at $200 to $210, so this lands roughly $30 to $40 under the flagship. It is also discounted as of this writing, listed at $128.97 on Nike’s own site, a touch under 25 percent off.

The LeBron NXXT Gen by JuJu “With Love,” IQ8495-600, released June 12 at 10 a.m. ET for $170 and remains available at Nike, currently below retail. More on her in the JuJu Watkins tag and across our Nike coverage.

Source: Nicekicks

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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