Lauren Jackson

Lauren Jackson

Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born 11 May 1981) is an Australian professional basketball player. The daughter of two national basketball teams players, Jackson was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1997, when she was 16. In 1998, she led the AIS side that won the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) championship. Jackson joined the Canberra Capitals for the 1999 season when she turned 18, and played with the team off and on until 2006, winning four more WNBL championships. Between 1998 and 2008, she played 154 WNBL games.

Jackson made the Australian under-20 team when she was only 14 years old, and was first called up to the Australian Women's National Basketball Team (nicknamed The Opals) when she was 16 years old. She was a member the 2000 Summer Olympics, and 2004 Summer Olympics teams, captain of the 2008 Summer Olympics team, winning three silver medals. Jackson was a member of the Australian Senior Women's Team that won a silver medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship for Women in China, co-captain of the team that won a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and captain of the team that won a gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil.

In 2001, Jackson entered the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft and was selected by the Seattle Storm, which viewed Jackson as a franchise player. On the court in the WNBA, she was known for her sharp and stinging comments directed at other players. She ranked 35th in the league for total played games with 308. She has played 9,958 minutes in the league and ranks 16th all time in this category. In her career, she has made 2,056 field goals, ranking third all time in this category. She ranked fifth all time in the league with 4,456 field goal attempts.She ranked 34th overall career wise in the league with a field goal percentage of 46.1%. Career wise, she ranks 10th overall for three point field goals with 430.She attempted 1219 three point field goals in her career, ranking 10th on the league's all time leaderboard. She was ranked second all time in the league for turnover percentage with 9.4.

Jackson has played club basketball in Europe with WBC Spartak Moscow in Russia and Ros Casares Valencia in Spain. She has also played with the Korean Women's Basketball League, where she was named the league's Most Valuable Player. In a game with Samsung Bichumi against the Kumho Redwings, she scored 56 to set a league record in her team's 96–76 victory.