Who is Lauren Jackson?
Lauren Jackson is an Australian basketball great and member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. She won three WNBA Most Valuable Player awards with the Seattle Storm.
Born in Albury in 1981, Jackson grew up in a basketball family; both her parents represented Australia. She joined the Australian Institute of Sport as a teenager and debuted for the Opals at 16.
Jackson was the first overall pick in the 2001 WNBA draft, chosen by the Seattle Storm. She won WNBA championships in 2004 and 2010 and MVP awards in 2003, 2007 and 2010.
Olympic career
She won Olympic silver medals with the Opals in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and bronze in 2012 in London, where she was the flag bearer. She came out of retirement and won bronze at the 2022 FIBA World Cup.
Jackson was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2020.
She played at her fifth Olympics in Paris in 2024, helping the Opals win bronze.
At 196 centimetres, Jackson combined height with shooting range, playing both inside and outside. She also played in the WNBL with the Canberra Capitals and later the Southside Flyers, winning several titles, and in leagues in Russia, Korea and Spain during the WNBA off-season.
Did You Know?
Jackson is widely considered the greatest Australian basketballer.