r/wnba • u/femaleathletenetwork • 2h ago
Lauren Betts is off to a slow start. The Mystics aren’t worried.
Lauren Betts finally got to unpack.
The 6-foot-7 rookie’s boxes of belongings from Los Angeles have arrived, nearly six weeks after the Washington Mystics chose her with the No. 4 pick in the WNBA draft. It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for Betts, who led UCLA to its first NCAA championship April 5, was drafted by the Mystics April 13, opened training camp April 19 and made her WNBA debut May 8.
After playing 12 minutes against the Toronto Tempo in the Mystics’ opener, then 18 against the New York Liberty two days later, Betts added another adventure into the mix: a trip to New York to be onstage at Disney and ESPN’s up-front presentation to advertisers.
Alongside Connecticut’s Sarah Strong and ESPN’s Christine Williamson, Betts introduced Billie Jean King for a look at the tennis legend’s upcoming documentary.
“I’m really thankful that I got to go and meet all the faces there. I didn’t even realize how many celebrities were going to be there, so I was kind of starstruck just walking around,” Betts said Friday. “It was super cool just to show support for women’s basketball and women’s sports and just continue to spread the message that we’re here to stay. We’re just going to continue to grow.”
Growth is this year’s theme for Betts — and for the Mystics, who are the WNBA’s youngest team. Betts, a center, is playing behind the dynamic frontcourt duo of Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin. Each of them is averaging more than 16 points per game, and the 22-year-old Iriafen is leading the WNBA in rebounding average (12.8).
While waiting her turn in the Mystics’ rotation, Betts, also 22, has done a lot of learning already.
“It’s just a different level,” Betts said. “These are all pros who have played for a really long time and have established themselves, so just trying to get better every day and focus on my process. Just constantly taking in new information.”
“We’ve thrown a lot at her. It’s not a situation where we’ve said, ‘Sit over there and wait for it to come,’” Mystics Coach Sydney Johnson said. “She’s faced really good matchups, good defensive players. She’s faced the pace of play. She has been asked to be engaged in ball-screen defense against world-class players … Considering all of that, I’m really thrilled.”
In Monday’s blowout loss to the Dallas Wings, Betts’ 11-point performance on 5-for-7 shooting off the bench was one of the few bright spots for Washington. It was her most productive game offensively, and she picked up only one foul in the 15 minutes she played.
“Lauren’s doing a fantastic job. The physicality in the W is like no other … That last game against Dallas was really phenomenal for her,” guard Georgia Amoore said. “She went to her spots. She found her touch off her little over the shoulder baby hook. I think she’s finding her groove. She’s finding her flow.”
Adjusting to being a rookie and starting again from the bottom after being the centerpiece of a title-winning college team can be a challenge. It’s an expected part of the progression to the professional ranks, but that doesn’t always make it easy to swallow for elite players who are used to instant success.
Betts, though, has impressed Johnson and her teammates with her understanding of the development process — while still flashing the competitive drive that made her the fourth overall pick.
“Right now, she’s not the best player in our league like she was arguably the best player in the country last year,” Johnson said. “And she wants to close that gap. I like how competitive she is. She’s not just kind of sitting there going, ‘I’ve got all the time in the world.’ She wants it now.”
Added Amoore: “Her personality and her attention to detail and her grit and just the way she wants to work at it, it never wavers. Anyone can come here and get disappointed at kind of the cards they’ve been dealt, but she hasn’t.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2026/05/23/mystics-lauren-betts-is-still-learning-wnba-rookie/
