Lauren Jackson Net Worth, Background, Personal Life, Career Highlights and Honors

The quick power forward, Lauren Jackson net worth accelerated as she earned scholarship to the institute of Sports when she was 16 and won WNBL championship.

Synopsis

Lauren Jackson net worth rose as she played with Canberra Capitals and won four more Women National Basketball League (WNBL) championships after her first WNBL championship. She also made to Women National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Australia Under-20 team at the age of 14. The member of Summer Olympics in 2000, 2004 and captain of 2008 Summer Olympics team, Jackson has won three silver medals. In addition, she in the Australian national team that won bronze in 2012 and 2002 FIBA World Championship that won silver medal.

Birth, Background

Lauren Elizabeth Jackson was born on 11 May, 1981 in Albury, New South Wales in Australia. The Australian player was born to national basketball player parents: Gary Jackson and Maree Bennie. She grew up as the elder child with her younger brother, Ross playing basketball in the court that was in their backyard. Even her grandfather used to play for the Western Suburbs Magpies. Therefore, Lauren inherited the basketball genes from her seniors while she inherited height of her father.

Jackson attended Murray High School in Albury and later she got scholarship for training in the Australian Institute of Sport (AIU). Therefore, she earned her high school certificate from Canberra while she was receiving training there. She took psychology major in Lomonosov Moscow State University. Jackson continued her studies taking business management in 2007 and attended Macquarie University in 2010. There she concentrated mainly in cultural studies, women’s rights and racism.

Lauren was active in athletics, net ball and tennis but she gave them up for basketball. Already 195 centimeters tall at the age of 14, Lauren Jackson net worth rose with her incredible talent in basketball.

Personal Life and Aspirations

Lauren Jackson was not only a great sportsman, but she also academic enthusiast. She got injured during 2010-11 but, continued her study. Apart from sports, she also aspired to become a UN diplomat. The book Rape during the Rwandan Genocide inspired Jackson towards gender studies and to become an advocate for women. Lauren Jackson net worth rose as she became the ambassador of a foundation that empowers women abused during the wartime. Further, she was trying to carry on her distance education at the University of Canberra in Gender and Diversity.

Early Career

Jackson’s career in basketball started when she was four. When she was 6, she wanted to play for Australian national team. She got into the U-10 local team at the age of 6 where her mother coached her for 2 years. Jackson was not the best player at the age of 11, but she played in U-14 Australian County Championship. She played with injured knee for Grand Final after which she made a vow that nothing would stand in her way.

She led her team to national championship gold at 14. Consequently, her performance gained enough of attention from the national team selectors. Continuing to play wonderfully, 17 year old Jackson won the Bob Staunton Award for MVP tournament at 1999 Australian Under-20.

Professional Career and Highlights

While playing with the Women’s Korean Basketball League, she became league’s Most Valuable Player that rose Lauren Jackson net worth. The only international player in the team, Jackson made her career best scoring 56 leading her team to 96-76 victory.

Similarly, Jackson played for a basketball club in Europe which paid her 6-digit USD. She played with WBC Spartak Moscow Region which paid her 4 times WNBA paid her. Playing with the team, she helped Spartak win Russian Superleague title in 2007, 2008 and 2009. After playing for several years, she left the club in 2011 due to injury.

After Lauren Jackson net worth rose by 4 times than it was before playing for Spartak, she moved to Spain. There she played for Spanish club, Ros Casares Valencia in 2011 and 2012. Her team manager defines her performance perfect.

In 2001, Seattle Storm drafted her in the fifth year of WNBA league. She was the youngest team captain in WNBA in 2002. As her performance got better, she gathered as much as 11,000 fans in one game. Only during the year in 2002, her estimated salary for Storm was $200,000 which clearly defines Lauren Jackson net worth was quite high. The efficient player continued playing better and became the youngest player to score 1,000 points in the league. Because of her efficiency of 34.9 in 2006, Jackson ranked first in this category.

In 2007, Lauren Jackson net worth rose higher with her scoring 47 points in a game setting league high single game score. Jackson further scored 4,000 points becoming the first, fastest and the youngest WNBA player to reach the milestone. She improved her efficiency to 35.0 turning into the first ranking efficient player.

After winning WNBA All Star in 2009 and 2010, Lauren Jackson had to deal with a number of injuries in 2011. Therefore, she stayed out of most games in this year. Moreover, the injuries sustained until 2012 blocking her way from competing in the Olympics. Nevertheless, she scored 6,000 by 2012. She endured hamstring surgery due to which she was out of 2013 league. Also, she underwent both knee surgeries in 2014. Even though she wanted to come back to the league, she had to refrain herself from the setbacks caused by injuries. Thus, she announced her retirement.

Awards, Achievements and Honors

Lauren Jackson net worth hiked as she turned out to be the most famous basketball player in the Australia since 2003. Scoring 47 in the single game in Korean Basketball League, Lauren Jackson became the Most Valuable Player of the match. While playing with Spartak, she received the title EuroLeague Women Player of the Week.

During her initial stage in WNBA she became WNBA All Star from 2001 to 2007 consecutively and in 2009. Also, she won the title All-WNBA First Team from 2004 to 2007 and 2009-2010. Named as league’s MVP in 2004, she further earned WNBA All-Decade Team title in 2006. League’s Most Valuable Player in 2007, Jackson received $18,238 bonus and Tiffany & Co. Trophy for reaching 4,000 score fast.  The trophy and prize money increased Lauren Jackson net worth and fame. Furthermore, Jackson received her finals MVP honor in 2010 and her fans voted her as one of the Top 15 players of the WNBA.

For her smooth and brilliant performance, Lauren Jackson received the title Australian International Player of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2002. She also got into the Australian Institute of Sport ‘Best of Best’ in 2006. Similarly, the Albury Sports Stadium was renamed to Lauren Jackson Sports Center.  Lauren was the guest of honors in the naming ceremony where thousands of people attended the event.

Post-retirement and Net Worth

The passionate basketball player, Lauren Jackson now is the head of the women’s division of Australian Basketball Alliance. She also joined Melbourne Boomers as team’s commercial operations executive in 2016. Moreover, she also works for Channel Seven as a commentator for Olympic tournament broadcast.

Lauren Jackson net worth rose as she got into the peak of success with her high efficiency. Played for a number of clubs internationally, Jackson is one of the highest paid WNBA players. Therefore, Lauren Jackson net worth is estimated to be differently by many sources which range from $5 million to $14 million.

Best known as the efficient and fast player, Lauren Jackson net worth hiked with her perseverance and passion. Recognized within Australia as well as throughout the whole world, Lauren Jackson has established herself as one of the best basketball players.