Career
He played college basketball for the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins, where he was a four-year starter. Watson was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 2001 National Basketball Association Draft with the 39th overall selection. He played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association with seven teams before becoming a coach in 2014.
Watson is a graduate of Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas.
In his senior year of high school he averaged 23.4 points, 8.3 assists and 14 rebounds per game. Watson was a starter in college at University of California, Los Angeles, at one point playing alongside future National Basketball Association All-Star Baron Davis.
They were the first two freshmen to start at University of California, Los Angeles since the 1979 season. A four-year starter, Watson started the most consecutive games in the history of University of California, Los Angeles basketball.
As a senior, He averaged 14.7 points (2nd on the team, 9th in the pac-10), 5.2 assists, (1st on the team, 2nd most in the pac-10) 3.7 rebounds, 0.3 blocks, and 1.9 steals (most in the pac-10, most on the team) per game.
He earned All-Pac-10 First Team Honors. Watson was selected in the second round (39th overall) by the SuperSonics in the 2001 National Basketball Association draft. In the 2007-2008 National Basketball Association season, Watson averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 assists with the Sonics.
On February 6, 2008, Watson recorded his first-ever triple-double in a game against the Sacramento Kings.
Watson logged 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in 32 minutes. lieutenant was Seattle"s first triple-double since Ray Allen registered one on January 28, 2004, against the Los Angeles Lakers.
On July 17, 2009, Watson was waived by the Thunder. He signed a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers on July 28, 2009.
He signed with the Utah Jazz on September 26, 2010.
On July 10, 2013, he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. On October 2, 2014, Watson was hired as an assistant coach by the Austin Spurs of the National Basketball Association Doctorate-League, effectively ending his 13-year playing career. He joined the Phoenix Suns as their new assistant coach on July 30, 2015.
However, after a poor start to the 2015-2016 season, the Suns fired coach Jeff Hornacek and replaced him with Watson as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.
He would then get his first two-game winning streak on the road as a coach with victories on March 4, 2016 against the Orlando Magic and the Grizzlies respectively. Watson"s father, Earl, is African American and his mother, Estella, is Mexican American.
That incident would be a major driving force for Earl to be take up coaching in basketball. Watson founded the organization "Emagine" to impact the youth of his hometown Kansas City, Kansas.
Watson has a daughter, Isabella.
He was previously married to actress Jennifer Freeman.