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There is no player in college basketball like Lauren Betts.
There aren’t many like her in the WNBA, either. But exactly what “like her” means, once she turns professional after a decorated college career, is still in question. It’s a testament to her maturity that Betts herself no longer worries about what “like her” means (seriously, go read this ESPN profile, if you haven’t already, and then come back), but it’s something teams will analyze and debate until draft day. Betts is projected to be a top pick in 2026, but where she lands in the draft remains to be seen, considering that this is a draft class full of talent.
Five games into the final season of Betts’ college career, we can start to answer that question. The UCLA All-American center is “tall,” to simplify just about every description of her ever, standing at 6-foot-7. That helps her dominance on the basketball court, where being “tall” is often useful:
Betts is in pretty rare company, and I’ll explain later why those few points around her on the chart aren’t at the same level. She’s elite on both sides of the ball, especially around the rim, and I think that chart sums up how a lot of people think about her: great offense, great rim protection. But I want to dig deeper than that, since there’s more to her game that explains why she’s such an elite player and a prospect with room to grow as a pro.
Before we get there, I want to quickly throw out this table with a few comparison stats to players whom the WNBA also lists at 6-foot-7 or taller.
Last year, there were only five such players (Li Yueru not included here for obvious non-college reasons), a good reminder that Betts will be in rarefied air even in the WNBA. Brittney Griner went first overall in 2013 and is a league legend; Teaira McCowan went third overall in 2019, four picks before Kalani Brown (and three before Napheesa Collier); Kamilla Cardoso went third overall as well in a similarly talented 2024 draft. All but Brown won WBCA Defensive Player of the Year (Griner three-peated).
This whole article could be about investigating those comparisons — size is hardly the full indicator of gameplay — but I want to put them here for reference, since I’ll make some mention of the players listed here. It should also be noted that those are Betts’ junior year stats; she might do even more damage as a senior.
Ok, that’s enough preamble. Let’s watch some basketball.
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Betts has and will make a career out of scoring at the rim, where she can put the ball in the basket with either hand and across either shoulder.
Her size and strength enable her frequent access to the most valuable offensive zone on the court. With strength, Betts can seal defenders deep in the paint; with size, she can corral high entry passes and lobs over the top of a defender sealed away from the rim.
Those deep seals are critical to her interior-dependent offensive game and how she runs the floor in transition. In the first clip below, look at how she runs downhill in transition, gets good position, and converts the entry pass for an and-one before the help defense can arrive. In the second clip, by the time the ball arrives, LSU drops from the corner for the block.
That final clip shows how important the depth of the seal is. In the 2025 Final Four, where UConn demolished UCLA 85-51, the Huskies worked to force Betts as far away from the rim as possible in early offense. Look at how high Jana El Alfy meets Betts, forcing her to catch outside the paint, which leads to a difficult look for Betts and a stop for the eventual national champions.
However, Betts’ willingness and effort in running the floor creates further looks than just the deep seal. Defenses worrying about that can leave imbalances elsewhere. LSU, in the second clip here, has two defenders paying attention to Betts, leaving just one to guard the ball and the corner:
Even in a WNBA situation in which she isn’t fed the ball as much on those seals, she should be able to continue creating for teammates with Gortat screens in transition.
Betts’ 1.31 points per shot attempt ranked in the 97th percentile last season. Because shots at the rim are so valuable and Betts can convert there with relative ease, defenses inevitably double- or triple-team Betts in the post. Luckily for the Bruins, Betts is an excellent passer. She consistently makes the right pass at the right time, be it quick-touching an entry feed to the nearside corner, finding a teammate cutting behind the double, or even skipping kickouts to the help-the-helper’s matchup for a three:
The passing ability is, offensively, what sets the All-American apart from her peers, back at the first chart.
Anastasiia Boldyreva’s assist rate has never surpassed 8.1%; Ayoka Lee hit 7.8%; Taylor Jones didn’t make it above 1.2% in six years. There are plenty of high-level post players, but few can facilitate at Betts’ level while maintaining their scoring efficiency.
What’s especially exciting about Betts’ passing is how much it has developed:
Betts’ assist rate (the percentage of teammates’ baskets assisted) in her first year at UCLA was 7.9%. As a junior, that jumped to 20.2%, a 61-percentile increase, and her 25% mark to start the 2025-26 campaign augurs even more progression.
Betts’ turnover numbers are up early this season after three years of above-average (i.e., good) turnover metrics. She doesn’t throw many “picks” (intercepted passes), with her ability to see over the defense, but that same size contributes to a few “plucks” when putting the ball on the floor with a handle that can yet be tightened:
She can also continue to improve on powering through or reacting with vision to late-arriving double-teams, which have contributed to 3.2 turnovers per game this year:
UCLA also accumulates a few extra turnovers on poor entry passes as they rightly force the ball to Betts in the post.
How can Betts broaden her game to adapt to a league that will offer no nights off against inferior competition and likely place her less drastically at the center of the offense?
One immediate area of development is Betts’ screen game. Since she is so dominant in the post, Betts often screens (or vaguely stands where a screen could be set) and rolls with the intent to post up, not with the intent to score off the roll.
It’s not only ball screens. The swing value of her setting a good off-ball screen vs. a bad one is easily demonstrated in the clips below. First, UCLA converts this baseline out of bounds (BLOB) play when Betts sets a slightly better screen (she barely touches Azzi Fudd, then gets enough of Zia Vann to enable the curl); then, a good Betts off-ball screen is the difference between an interception and an open three for a teammate:
Betts will be asked to set screens in the WNBA, plain and simple. She can do it, and I think her passing ability and execution against single coverage in the post make for a high-potential roller if she sets her mind to it:
What could be a good bridge to screen-setting has come in the form of dribble handoffs (DHOs), which enable a quicker roll and advantage creation while making Betts the mesh point (as opposed to her having to run into the screen):
That’s good development from the Bruins. Now that they expect to compete at the highest level, UCLA has, to its credit, understood the importance of not betting exclusively on its superstar. The return of point guard Charlise Leger-Walker from injury and the arrival of sharpshooter Gianna Kneepkens from Utah have helped the Bruins diversify their offense, with an already talent-rich roster that includes Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, and some first-year who, coincidentally, has the same last name as Lauren.
But some credit must go to Betts, too, who, as we saw on the DHO fades, has incorporated more of a midrange element to her game:
That added spacing complements Betts’ usual interior gravity nicely. Teams were already worried about her paint presence against mismatches (clip 1), and now her gravity may extend outside-in, as Beatrice Culliton vacates the paint to stay with Betts (clip 2):
If Betts’ improved free-throw shooting (14-for-15 to start the year, up from 62% last season) holds up, that could be an indicator of shooting potential. There is some precedent for shooting development: Naz Hillmon, Griner’s teammate in Atlanta, shot just six 3-pointers in college at Michigan and her first three seasons in the WNBA before taking 165, at a 32.1% clip, while winning the 2025 Sixth Player of the Year award. Cardoso, Brown, and McCowan have averaged 9 career threes in the WNBA; Griner has lightly dabbled in it of late, approaching 20 in each of the last two seasons.
WNBA teams will watch that development closely. Can Betts eventually extend her range beyond the 3-point line? It’s unlikely Betts gets there anytime soon. But how differently do teams approach this draft if they know that in four years, say, Betts develops the long ball?
Space is more and more important in modern basketball, and adding that to a strong interior foundation will only help Betts’ game and team.