Lauren Jackson with sons Lennon (3) and Harry (5).Credit:Eddie Jim
It’s now a ritual. After every Southside Flyers game in the WNBL this year, Lauren Jackson pulls up a chair on the edge of the court to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Sometimes there’s a table.
Like the Flyers’ attendances, the queues keep getting bigger and in Perth the line snaked up the arena’s stairs and onto a second level. Jackson stayed until it was gone.
“My teammates all went home. I had to catch an Uber back,” Jackson said. “It’s pretty special.”
The generational make-up of the lines fascinates Jackson. Someone produced a Canberra Capitals jersey from 2000 for her to sign, and then there are kids who weren’t even alive when the legendary Australian basketballer first retired in 2016.
“They would have never seen me and only heard of me through their parents,” Jackson says.
“It is a real diverse mix of people coming to watch. People have been so supportive and it has been so overwhelming, and I feel like I have an obligation to them and the sport as well. It has given me so much and it’s so special that I get to share this now with everybody, this last time. And I say last time in the sense that once this, whatever it is, is done, it’s done.”
Lauren Jackson before training at the State Basketball Centre in Melbourne.Credit:Eddie Jim
There’s no real secret to why young kids are being dragged along to see Lauren Jackson play basketball one last time. The“it” is a surprise second coming of Australia’s greatest ever basketballer, and for as long as her last dance continues, you can bet on the queues of people lining up to see Jackson won’t fade away.
The return of Jackson at the age of 41 is one of the more incredible stories in global sport in 2022.
After a stellar 20-year career that included four Olympics, multiple WNBA championships, WNBA MVP crowns and a Naismith Hall of Fame entry (and that’s a seriously condensed list), Jackson was forced to retire in 2016 when a degenerative knee injury made it too painful to continue. It was a sad, premature end and Jackson struggled with painkillers, surgeries and depression for many years after.
But after joining a medicinal cannabis trial last year, Jackson was able to begin training and playing again, and in a remarkable comeback, went from playing for her local team in Albury to returning to the Australian Opals in the FIBA World Cup in Sydney in August.
Now she is going around for what is probably her last season in the WNBL.
Lauren Jackson shoots for the Flyer in a game against Townsville.Credit:Getty
“It was never about chasing a farewell lap. I was talking to someone the other day and they were going it’s so great you get to retire on your own terms, and you know, it was never about that,” Jackson said.
“When I retired it was hard, I was injured, it was hard. But the six years since I retired have been the best six years of my life, and if I had never picked up a basketball again I would still be very happy and very fulfilled. And I would still have the same legacy.
“So it was never about having the fairytale ending or anything like that. I literally just wanted to get fit again. That’s how the journey started.”
Lauren Jackson was a star for over 20 years prior to retirement in 2016.Credit:Getty
After having her two “angels” – sons Lennon and Harry – Jackson put on weight but with a partial knee replacement, trying to train was agonising. A recommendation from good friend and US basketball legend Sue Bird to try medicinal cannabis led to a trial with Melbourne sports science company Levin Health, and it worked. She was soon able to go to the gym daily.
“I had promised myself too that I would never get on that spiral of taking harsher medications, particularly now I have got kids. I am a single mum, I have to be really present and capable for them,” Jackson said.
“Once I started losing some weight, I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I will go and shoot some hoops’.”
A friend who was an assistant coach with Albury asked if she’d consider playing again. It was something she’d wanted to do at the end of her career, so Jackson agreed. One day early on she walked onto a court and started shooting threes. She drained them all. The muscle memory was still there.
Lauren Jackson with sons Lennon (3) and Harry (5).Credit:Eddie Jim
“That was the moment where it was like ‘Wow, if all I had to do was stand at the three-point line, I will be able to do this’. It was moments like that made me realise I do love this game and I have missed it,” Jackson said.
Given cannabis is on the WADA banned substance list, Jackson sought – and was granted – a therapeutic use exemption. In a sign of her standing, Jackson’s return to the WNBL’s modest second division made headlines across the globe.
It also caught the eye of former teammate Sandy Brondello, who is now coaching the Opals. Within four weeks of Jackson’s return for Albury, Brondello raised the prospect of Jackson playing for Australia again at the World Cup in Sydney in August.
Lauren Jackson playing for Australia at the 2022 World Cup.Credit:Getty
“It was really clear I had to pass milestones to even be considered, strength, mental health ones,” Jackson said.
“When we were having these meetings, in the back of my mind I was thinking. ‘I am never going to pass any of this stuff’. So, I just thought I will keep chipping away, give it a crack. My knee will get sore or something will happen. There’s no way I am going to run that fast or lift that much.
“Thinking of where I had come from, I had a half-knee replacement, I’d had 30 or 40 surgeries in my life and I have two kids. How the hell am I going to do this?”
Jackson made it through several Opals camps and passed the physical tests. She’d lost 20 kilograms and as a mum in her 40s, Jackson had actually become stronger than she was in his past playing career.
Suddenly, it was selection day. A video of the Zoom chat between Brondello and Jackson showed the legend rendered speechless when informed she’d made it.
“When Sandy called me that day, I was shitting myself,” Jackson said.
“That would have been the ultimate let-down, had I missed out, after all the work that I had done. And I was half-expecting her to say, ‘no we just can’t take that risk’.”
The World Cup proved to be all about Jackson and up against the new generation, she showed she’d lost none of her class and baked-in skill. The Opals didn’t manage to win gold but they won a stirring bronze medal match, with Jackson starring with a 30-point haul.
Lauren Jackson is held aloft after the Opals won World Cup bronze in her final game.Credit:Getty
In scenes from a movie script, the crowd chanted “LJ” and gave her a long, standing ovation. Jackson was lifted onto the shoulders of her teammates.
“I will remember that for the rest of my life. Even back in the day, I never watched any Olympic games or [WNBA] championship games, I have never gone back and watched. But I have watched that game like eight times. I will never forget it. I think because my kids got to experience it, Lenny my baby was on the podium,” she said.
“This last 12 months, the journey, the relationships with the girls I developed, being able to play again, playing WNBL … all of it, has been by far the greatest journey of my basketball career. Because I have been able to share it with my angels, my kids. And because I worked so hard for it. I didn’t take any of it for granted.
Lauren Jackson signs autographs after a Flyers game.Credit:Getty
“I always said I don’t believe in fairytales because of the way my career ended, and not only that, but it was never perfect when I was the athlete. I felt like the highs and lows were just so hard to overcome.
“And like I said, the last six years have been just incredible and having my kids and finding that inner peace is the best thing that could have ever happened. Because the last year has really made me appreciate the sport, and what it means to me.
“But in saying all of that, it has been a fairytale. If it ended tomorrow – what a ride. You couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
Lauren Jackson hasn’t decided if she’ll play again next season.Credit:Eddie Jim
Jackson retired from international hoops again but happily signed on to play for the Southside Flyers in the WNBL. She says only now is she starting to get her timing and feel back for the game.
Juggling motherhood, a part-time job with Basketball Australia and training is a challenge, but she’s loving every moment. Her boys attend most training sessions.
And given what it allowed her to do, Jackson is signed on to advocate for medicinal cannabis and has become a Sports Advisory board member for Levin Health, who also have rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns on board.
She believes more athletes should be able to have it as an option for treatment for chronic issues.
“One of the great things that has come out of this is that I have been able to have these discussions with other athletes; ex-athletes, current athletes and athletes who want to try a different route than the traditional one we have been on for so many years and for me, it wasn’t good for me at all,” Jackson said.
“I want to be part of those conversations and I want to reduce the stigma of medicinal cannabis use.”
Will the last lap continue next year?
“You know what, if the body holds up, maybe. Because I love it. And I am getting better.”
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