Lauren, the eldest daughter to Maree and Gary Jackson who also represented Australia in Basketball, is currently the Head of Women in Basketball at Basketball Australia.

At 14, she accepted a scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), where she joined the Under-20 Gems team. Her tenure at the AIS saw her recognised as Rookie of the Year, where she, as captain, led the team to their first and only Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Championship in 1999. 

Jackson was the youngest player on the team when she represented Australia at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Brazil, her first international appearance. They finished with a silver medal after a nail-biting final against the USA. Later that year, she debuted with the Opals at just 16 years old. 

Her time in the WNBL began when she was 18 years old, playing for the Canberra Capitals. She led the team to seven playoffs from 1999-2004, as well as the 2005/06 and 2009/10 seasons, of which they won four championships. She briefly played in the 2014/15 season, but persisting knee injuries ended her season, before being let out of her contract the following year.

She played a total of 154 WNBL games.

At only 19-years-old, Jackson made her Olympic debut with the Opals at Sydney 2000.

She boasts four Olympic appearances during her career, all of which she left the games with a medal.

The Opals won silver at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, as well as bronze at the Games in London 2012, where she was also the Flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony.

She led the Australian teams as captain in her final two Olympic appearances in 2008 and 2012. She joined the rest of the team at a training camp for the Rio 2016 Games, before opting out of the team and effectively concluding her Olympic career, citing ongoing knee trouble as the culprit of her inability to regain the proper form needed to compete in Rio.

Jackson said at the time she’d need an “absolute miracle” if she wanted to represent Australia for a fifth time at the Olympics.

Jackson achieved massive success outside of Australia. She played a season in the Women’s Korean Basketball League, with the Samsung Bichumi Club, where she was named the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2007. She also joined the European League, joining the WBC Spartak Moscow Region team, where she would stay for three seasons. She won back-to-back championships in 2007 and 2008. She also briefly played for Ros Casares Godella in Spain.

Across the Pacific, Jackson played in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), drafted to the Seattle Storm in 2001, where she played as forward. In her first season in the WNBA, she was named an All-Star, an honour she would be granted a total of seven times throughout her career with the WNBA.

Amongst a long list of other achievements during her time in the WNBA, she was also named three-time MVP, three-time Peak Performer and Defensive Player of the Year for 2007. The Seattle Storm retired Jackson’s jersey number, 15, four years after her final WNBA appearance. This was the first time a number was retired in the history of the franchise.

Her induction into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame is not the first of its kind for Jackson. In 2006, Lauren was admitted into the AIS’s ‘Best of the Best’ Hall of Fame. The Albury Sports Stadium in Jackson’s hometown was also renamed the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre in 2011. In 2015, she was inducted to The Officer of the Order of Australia. In 2018, she was also awarded the International Olympic Committee’s Women in Sport for Oceania.

Additionally, in 2020, Jackson was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

In March 2021, it was announced that Jackson was named in a cohort of 14 for admittance into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame for the Class of 2021, with her successful election announced on 16 May, 2021. 

The Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame is amongst the most extensive honours of its kind, with one of the widest nominee criterias for such an award. Players must be fully retired for a minimum of three years to be eligible for consideration, and are screened by the North American and/or Women’s Committees. Candidates who are not elected are not able to be considered for another five years. 

Since her retirement from professional basketball in 2016, Jackson has joined the Australian Basketball Alliance as Head of the Women’s Division, and Commercial Operations Executive for the Melbourne Boomers.

On occasion, the mother of two also commentates for Olympic broadcasts and her autobiography, ‘My Story: A Life in Basketball and Beyond’ was released in late 2018. 

Miranda Cunanan