Anthony Watkins (born 31 October 2000) is a German-American professional basketball player who last played for MLP Academics Heidelberg of the Basketball Bundesliga. After graduating from The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2019, Watkins chose to bypass college in order to pursue professional basketball in Germany before the 2020 NBA Draft.

Anthony Watkins

Watkins with Heidelberg in 2022
Free Agent
Position	Point guard
Personal information
Born	(2000-10-31) 31 October 2000 (age 21) Heidelberg, Germany
Nationality	American / German
Listed height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight	94 kg (207 lb)
Career information
High school	The McCallie School (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
Playing career	2019–present
Career history
2019	Basketball Löwen Erfurt
2019–2020	Basketball Pointers Giessen
2020–2021	Basketball Löwen Braunschweig
2021–2022	MLP Academics Heidelberg

Early life and career

Watkins grew up in the United States and Germany and is bilingual. He started to pursue basketball from his early childhood on, at the age of 5. Watkins continued playing both school-organized basketball in middle and high school, as well as AAU basketball. At Lakeview Middle School, Watkins holds the record of most points scored in a single game with 47 points in three quarters' time.[1] Watkins then became a member of the varsity basketball team at The McCallie School. He led his team as captain in his senior year of high school during which he ranked second in scoring for the Blue Tornado, while also standing second in field goal percentage and blocked shots. Watkins was selected to the 2019 Division II-AA East-Middle All-Region and BCAT All-Stars East teams.[2]

Professional career

Watkins signed his first professional contract with the Basketball Löwen Erfurt[3] of the German third tier ProB in August 2019, right after graduating from The McCallie School. Due to being classified as an EU-import player, despite Watkins' dual citizenship, he played limited minutes in 10 games with the Basketball Löwen Erfurt,[4][5] averaging 3.6 points per contest.[6] In January 2020, Watkins, therefore, joined the Regionalliga side Giessen Pointers (fourth German division) with a debut of 22 points and eight rebounds.[7][8] He finished the season, which ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging 9 points,[9] 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, while shooting 53 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from behind the 3-point line in nine games.[10] Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, Watkins' professional status and the fact that he played his first professional game before January 1, 2020, entered him in the 2020 NBA Draft.[11][12][13][14]

On 28 August 2020, Watkins signed with the Basketball Löwen Braunschweig of the Basketball Bundesliga, with a double license, in order to also assist Braunschweig's Regionalliga team SG Braunschweig.[10][15][16] He made his debut for the Basketball Löwen team in the Bundesliga on December 13, 2020.[17]

On July 14, 2021, he has signed with MLP Academics Heidelberg of the Basketball Bundesliga.[18]

National team career

Watkins was selected to the expanded roster of the U20 German National Team in 2019 and also participated in the U18 training camp in 2018.[10]

References