CHICAGO — The journey to the Philadelphia 76ers, and even the NBA in general, has not been easy for Trendon Watford. After two seasons at LSU, the Birmingham, AL native went undrafted in 2021 before signing a two-way deal with the Portland Trail Blazers in August of that offseason.
After a productive rookie season, Watford then had his deal converted to a standard deal before being waived in June of 2023. He then caught on with the Brooklyn Nets on a 1-year deal, signed another 1-year deal with the Nets in the 2024 offseason, and is now on a multi-year deal with the Sixers. His work with the Blazers and Nets earned him the respect around the league and Philadelphia rewarded him for his work.
On an off day in Chicago, Watford sat down with Sixers Wire for a Q&A to discuss his journey while playing with Joel Embiid and what he brings to the table:
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: I wanted to ask you about your journey. What has it taught you about resilience and opportunity and things of that nature?
Trendon Watford: Big time, bro. Just the resilience part of it. Like, the staying the course part of it, knowing this long journey part of it and it’s just a grind, you know, starting from really the bottom, and then building my way up. So every step along the way has just been character building for, obviously, real-life situations and my career. So, it’s just been character-building, and it’s just shown how resilient I am.
Q: You definitely could have given up after going undrafted and gone a different route. Where does the love of basketball come from and how does it allow you to keep pushing?
TW: Yeah, it’s big bro. It’s big and I think just one of the things is me just believing in myself. Like, having a sort of sense of, like, delusional confidence in myself, as I would say. Like, just believing that I belong, and knowing that I belong from the time I even got a two-way with Portland, I knew that—I’m not necessarily better than people on the team, but like, I know I can impact the way that they can and if not better. So, yeah, that’s just that part of it, and just having that delusional confidence about myself, and I think it’s helped me tremendously every step of the way.
Q: You won a summer league title with Portland. How beneficial is the summer league for younger players trying to find their way?
TW: It was big, bro. I had a big summer that year. I won, like you said, I won championship, and I won the MVP. It was big, bro. That was a big second summer for me. Like, obviously, I got off of my two-way early in the early my rookie season. So I had got a standard deal, and that led into me actually having a pretty good year my second year with the team. So that was big, bro. Summer league’s big and, yeah. I think summer league’s big, bro. Especially, your second year. After you get a lot of reps your first year, and I was able to get a lot of reps and playing and stuff. So my second year, I was comfortable, and I was way better than my first year. My first summer league.
Q: I feel like an underrated part of your game that doesn’t get talked about enough is your playmaking. How have you been able to incorporate that into your game at your size and position?
TW: It started when I was young, but I tell people all the time—my dad was my coach. So, he wouldn’t let any other coach put me in the post and like, limit—just since I was always the biggest guy in the room and biggest guy in the classroom and biggest guy on the team—he’d never let a coach just stick me in the post. I think that helped me tremendous, bro. Just working on my ball handling, working on my passing, watching the game, watching basketball, having a brother that played at a high level and going to all his games, and seeing high-level basketball at such a young age, it was just big for me. Just seeing a lot of players back then, I just knew this is what I wanted to do. I just knew, like, my game, like, I wanted to be a person that could do everything. I think that’s helped me today.
Q: What player did you watch, specifically? To try and emulate what a certain player could do.
TW: Yeah, a little bit everybody, bro. Honestly, like watching Melo (Carmelo Anthony). Like, a lot of stuff he do out of the post, and you see me, like, do a lot of stuff out of the post. Kyle Anderson, obviously, with his playmaking and how slow, and unathletic we both are, but like, sort of athletic in our own ways, and a lot of guys, bro. Just a lot of guys. I just watch a lot of basketball. So, like I’m still, to this day, like I’m watching a lot of basketball, watching a lot of games and stuff so and just learning and seeing what other guys do in my position. Draymond (Green), obviously, like, just a lot of but like, still adding my own twist in there.
Q: What are the advantages of being such a versatile player like yourself in today’s game?
TW: It’s big, bro because that’s where the game is trending. It’s big. This game is trending towards guys that can do a bunch of things on the floor, play a bunch of positions. So I knew that, you know, my rookie year, like I knew that I could play a lot of positions, and that was gonna keep me—that was gonna put me at the best chance of being on the floor. Being able to play, plug in, and just play whatever position the coach need me to be, and still being myself. Like, just making plays for myself and others, and I think I can do that in any position. Like I tell my boys all the time, bro. I came in the league. If you watch some of my rookie year clips, I was playing the 5 majority of the time, behind Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic), and then transitioned to 4, and then transition to the 1 in Brooklyn, and from there, it just opened up.
Q: You just mentioned Brooklyn. What unlocked for you during your time there?
TW: I mean, even the last two seasons. When I first got there, Jacque Vaughn put me at the 1. Like I was coming in for I think (Spencer) Dinwiddie at the time, bro. So I unlocked that level of playing off of ball screens. Like, bringing the ball up the court, playing, like I said, playing pick-and-roll, like getting mismatches and stuff like that. I was able to show people that I could do that, and I think that sort of just followed me to last year, playing with Jordi (Fernandez). Being able to do a lot of things, being able to bring the ball up the court, play pick-and-roll with Clax (Nic Claxton), play out the post, just doing a lot of things on the perimeter, inside. So I think that obviously unlocked that in Brooklyn, but like, I’ve always been able to do that.
Q: When you see Joel Embiid, what stands out to you the most?
TW: Really, just how talented he is, bro. Like, just playing against him, being in the West my first two years, only playing against him one time, I think in Brooklyn, he was hurt one time. My third year, I don’t think he played. So, just seeing him every day, bro. He’s obviously the MVP of the league. Like, just seeing him every day and how he approaches every day, and just really how easy it come to him, honestly. Like, that’s the most surprising part for me, is just how easy it comes for him, and, yeah, just his ability to just dominate, bro. It’s easy for him. Honestly, it’s crazy.
Q: What’s the next challenge for you to get that pick-and-roll down with Embiid?
TW: Just reps, bro. That’s the next challenge. Just reps. Just time, and me being able to get Reese off the ball and play pick-and-roll with Jo. Just to give Reese (Tyrese Maxey) a little break, and other guys just getting a little break. I think there’s just reps and time. Like, obviously, trying to grow with both of them, with Reese and Jo. Just being out in training camp, bro, it’s hard just coming back into the season like this, but they’ve been able to help me. I think Jo just allows me to be me, and then obviously he’s him. So I think we’re just gonna get better with time in that department.
Sixers Wire: I appreciate you, Trendon. Thank you, bro.
TW: Thank you, bro.
