They crossed paths at UCLA, both rising stars in their sports, Jaime Jaquez Jr. in basketball and Dominique Ruotolo in track. By late 2023, things shifted from friendship to something more, and the world got a first glimpse during NBA All-Star Weekend. They showed up together at Offset\u2019s party, making their romance public. Since then, their bond has only grown stronger. But now, as Dominique cheers from the stands, trade talks swirl around Jaime, with buzz linking him to Utah and even Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Dominique, who studied at Oregon before transferring to USC, isn\u2019t just an athlete; she\u2019s a global soul. Born in Switzerland and fluent in French, she\u2019s lived across Europe and Africa. Her achievements include a Pac-12 title and a bronze at the U20 USA Nationals. She\u2019s also passionate about social change. Despite her demanding schedule, she attends Jaime\u2019s games while he supports her at social gatherings and fundraisers. Together, they\u2019ve handled the spotlight, but recent trade speculation has added a new twist to their journey.<\/p>\n
Amid the swirling rumors, Jaime recently sat down on Straight to Cam for a revealing conversation. When asked by Cameron Brink how to date someone so admired, Jaime said, \u201cYou know, when you\u2019re dating a beautiful woman, I think it\u2019s important to have an open line of communication and an open line of trust.\u201d He further added, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to let your girl be who she is and be the beautiful baddie that she is. And you got to be okay with that. Like, you got to know what you\u2019re getting into at the end of the day.\u201d His words weren\u2019t just romantic; they sounded like advice for others, maybe even for people like Cameron Brink and her fianc\u00e9, Ben Felter, who might also be balancing public attention with private life.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
View this post on Instagram<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The conversation turned fun when Sydel Curry-Lee brought up the infamous \u201cick\u201d question. Jaime admitted his personal ick is \u201cwaiting in lines,\u201d but added more thoughtfully, \u201cProbably like entitlement. Yeah. Like, if someone walks around very entitled\u2026 That kind of just rubs me the wrong way.\u201d His answer sparked laughter, especially when he confessed Dominique likely got the ick during their first meeting. \u201cBut I made it up to her, so I think that kind of cancels out.\u201d The moment showed the realness of their bond, lighthearted but also full of awareness. So, how did the first meeting go? Well, Jamie painted a nice picture of how it almost derailed.<\/p>\n
Jaime Jaquez Jr. opens up on how it all began\u2026 and almost ended before the start<\/p>\n
It all started during one of the biggest nights of Jaime Jaquez Jr.\u2019s life: NBA Draft night in New York. As he put it, \u201cI was, you know, having the time of my life, you know, just my dream came true.\u201d That same night, he quite literally bumped into Dominique. \u201cLike straight out of a movie,\u201d he said, describing the chance encounter. They started talking, and by the end of the night, Jaime suggested grabbing pizza. But things didn\u2019t quite go as planned.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The noise of the night suddenly hit him hard once inside the Uber. That\u2019s when reality set in. \u201cI am not okay. Like, please take me home,\u201d Jaime recalled telling Dominique. She was confused and asked, \u201cYou\u2019re taking me to your hotel? Like, who are you?\u201d He explained his condition, and to his surprise, she agreed to help. \u201cShe ends up taking me to my hotel,\u201d Jaime remembered. \u201cI make a beeline straight to the bathroom, and you guys can put the story together from there.\u201d It wasn\u2019t a romantic end, but it was definitely unforgettable.<\/p>\n
That moment might\u2019ve ended badly for most people, but Dominique\u2019s reaction was unexpectedly kind. Jaime said, \u201cI text her the next morning. I was like, hey, very sorry. Like, thank you so much for helping me.\u201d She replied, \u201cOf course, no problem. Like, it happens to the best of us.\u201d That text would be the start of something real. Though they went their separate ways for a while, fate had other plans. \u201cI was like, hey, can I make it up to you?\u201d Jaime asked her later in LA. She came, and \u201cthe rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They crossed paths at UCLA, both rising stars in their sports, Jaime Jaquez Jr. in basketball and Dominique…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,2968,99,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-60163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-npstrans","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-toppic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}