Lauren Jackson’s vision for the WNBL

The WNBL’s newly appointed Special Advisor – and all-time greatest player – spoke to the Pick and Roll about her hopes for the league, ahead of an exciting new era of women's basketball in Australia.

Photo credit: Graham Denholm / Getty Images

As Jennie Sager took on her new role as the incoming WNBL CEO, her first move – and please excuse basketball’s most tired cliché – was a slam dunk.

Sager didn’t have to overthink it. Like the captain picking teams at lunchtime, the new CEO immediately tapped Lauren Jackson – Australian basketball’s most successful, accomplished, and revered player – as her first appointment, brought in to help shape the league’s future as a Special Advisor. Who else would you want to build your team around?

While the optics of the move couldn’t be much better from the WNBL’s point of view, Jackson’s commitment signals an exciting shift in the game. With an unrivalled body of work, Jackson wields the unique kind of power that comes with standing atop the mountain. She holds free reign to pick and choose where she wants to offer her energy and expertise. Now retired, she could easily spend her time running She Hoops and working for Basketball Australia, taking lucrative keynote speaker gigs, jumping into a variety of plum media roles, or sitting on boards and committees.

Instead, she’s jumping straight back into the WNBL. So, what exactly drew Jackson into this newly created role, and what kind of vision does the greatest player to ever do it have for a new era of WNBL?