Lauren Jackson

Lauren Jackson
Information about the player
Full name	Lauren Elizabeth Jackson
Nickname	LJ , Loz , Lozza
birthday	11th May 1981 (age 39)
place of birth	Albury , New South Wales , Australia
size	196 cm
position	Power Forward / Center
WNBA Draft	2001 , 1st pick, Seattle Storm
Jersey number	15th
Clubs as active
1997-1999	AIS
1999-2006	Canberra Capitals
2006-2007	Samsung Bichumi
2007-2009	Spartak Moscow Oblast
2009-2010	Canberra Capitals
2010-2011	Spartak Moscow Oblast
2011–2012	Ros Casares Valencia
2012-2013	Canberra Capitals
2013-2014	Heilongjiang
2014-2016	Canberra Capitals
WNBA clubs as active
2001–2012	Seattle Storm
1 As of March 6, 2017

Lauren Elizabeth Jackson (born May 11, 1981 in Albury , New South Wales ) is a former professional Australian basketball player . Most recently she played in the 2014/15 season for the Canberra Capitals in the Australian Women's National Basketball League on the position of Power Forward and Center . After she was unable to play any more games due to injury in the 2015/16 season, she officially ended her career in early 2016.

From 2001 to 2012 she was active in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the Seattle Storm team and was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 .

Career

Australia (1997 to 2016)

Lauren Jackson began her professional basketball career at the Australian Institute of Sport where she spent three years. From 1999 she played for the Canberra Capitals in the Australian Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). Due to her good performance for the Capitals and in the national team, she was also observed by some WNBA scouts. After moving to the US league, she continued to play during the WNBA season break in the domestic league. Most recently she played for Canberra Capitals in the Australian WNBL in the 2014/15 season. After she was unable to play any more games due to injury in the 2015/16 season, she officially ended her career in early 2016. In total, she won the championship six times with her team in Australia and was honored four times as the best player in the league.

WNBA (2001 to 2012)

Lauren Jackson was selected first in the 2001 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm. At the beginning of her career, Lauren Jackson was best known for her offensive style of play, but also for her weakness on the defensive. But she has also improved her defense game from year to year. This is also reflected in her statistics, where she is one of the strongest rebounders and shot-blockers in the entire league. In the 2003 season , she was voted Most Valuable Player of the Season, which was unusual given that Seattle hadn't made it into the play-offs. In the 2004 season , Lauren Jackson led the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title together with Sue Bird . However, surprisingly neither of the two was chosen as the WNBA Finals MVP , but Betty Lennox . On July 25, 2007, Jackson scored 47 points in the game against the Washington Mystics , equalizing Diana Taurasi's WNBA record . She was only the fifth player in the history of the league to score more than 40 points in a game. At the end of the season she was named MVP of the league for the second time. In addition to the honors as the best point collector and best rebounder in the league, she was also honored with the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award . WNBA 2010 she and her team became WNBA champions for the second time. In addition, she was honored for the third time this season as the MVP of the league and also as an MVP in the WNBA finals. After another season in Seattle, she ended her WNBA career.

During her time in the US, she played 317 regular season games in 12 WNBA seasons, starting 317 times and scoring 6007 points, 2447 rebounds and 435 assists. In 31 playoff games (including 31 in the starting lineup) she scored 541 points, 242 rebounds and 30 assists.

She was chosen for her achievements in the WNBA both in 2006 in the WNBA All-Decade Team consisting of ten players and in 2011 for the 15th anniversary of the league as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time .

Europe (2007 to 2012)

Like many WNBA players, Jackson plays regularly in Europe during the WNBA season break. Since 2007 she has been on the field for teams from Russia and Spain. In both countries she and her teams won the national championship once. Most recently she played for the Spanish club Ros Casares Valencia in the 2012/13 season .

Asia (2006 to 2014)

During the WNBA season break, Jackson also played two seasons in Asia. She played in the 2006/07 season for the South Korean team from Samsung Bichumi and in the 2013/14 season for the Chinese team Heilongjiang .

National team (1997 to 2013)

Lauren Jackson first attracted attention at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney when she led Australia to the finals, where the team failed but to the United States. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens she failed again with Australia to the United States in the final. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing , she failed again in the final against the United States. This is the third time in a row that she has won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. She was the flag bearer of the Australian team at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics . This time the event ended with a bronze medal for the Australian team around Lauren Jackson.

Lauren Jackson's international career began when she finished third at the 1998 Basketball World Cup . In 2002 she was able to win a bronze medal with the Australian team. At the 2006 World Cup , she led the Australian team to win the title as the top scorer of the tournament. At the basketball world championship in 2010 , after finishing fifth, she remained without a medal at an international championship for the first time.

Her last international title was the 2013 Oceania Championship with the Australian team .

Web links

Commons : Lauren Jackson  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• WNBA Player Profile (English)
• Statistics about the player on basketball-reference.com (English)
• FIBA overview of participation in international tournaments (English)
• FIBA-Europe Overview of participation in European tournaments (English)
• Profile of the player on the site of the Australian Basketball Association (English)