Lauren Betts’s Dad Was Also a Professional Basketball Player
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Lauren Betts was born into a basketball life. She spent her childhood moving across the country as her father, Andrew “Andy” Betts, pursued a professional basketball career. The family settled in the United States when she was in third grade.
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Betts arrived at Stanford as the top-ranked recruit in the 2022 class, having chosen the Cardinal over offers from Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA, UConn, and South Carolina. But after one season, she transferred to UCLA, where she became the starting center. She has since earned All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors, along with All-America honorable mention recognition from the AP and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Now a senior, she is pursuing a national title to close out a stellar college career.
Lauren and Sienna (right) with their parents after a game in February.Melina Pizano - Getty ImagesBasketball is a full family enterprise for the Betts household. Both of her parents played, and all of her siblings have followed. Her sister Sienna also plays for the Bruins, and her younger brother Dylan has already been invited to USA Basketball’s junior national team camps. Here, get to know Lauren Betts’s parents, Michelle and Andy.
Meet Lauren’s mom, Michelle:
Lauren's mother, Michelle, played volleyball at Long Beach State University in Southern California, where she won the 1993 national championship as an outside hitter on an undefeated team that season. She and Andy, both student athletes, met as students at Long Beach State. They have four children together: Lauren, Sienna, Dylan, and Ashton. Michelle and Andy have since divorced.
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Lauren is especially close to her mother. In 2024, she was briefly hospitalized for depression and wrote about her mental health struggles for The Players’ Tribune. Michelle stayed in Los Angeles for a week with Lauren after she was released.
Michelle with her daughters Sienna (left) and Lauren during the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.Harry How - Getty Images“Before therapy, I had never felt comfortable talking to anyone other than my mom about really deep and personal things,” Lauren wrote. “With her it’s like, You’re my mom. I know you’re not going to judge me. That’s my safe space. And so, building that level of trust with a stranger took a lot of work.”
Meet Lauren’s dad, Andy Betts:
Andy Betts playing for England at the 2000 European Championships.Pete Norton - Getty ImagesBorn in Leicestershire, England, Lauren’s father Andy played college basketball at Long Beach State before being selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round of the 1998 NBA Draft. He went on to play professionally in Europe for 14 years, competing in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Ukraine. His career highlights include winning the EuroCup in 2006 with Joventut Badalona and national league titles with AEK Athens in Greece and Real Madrid in Spain.
“Before I ever picked up a ball, I was just a little kid following my dad around Europe, while he was playing basketball professionally. Since my dad worked a lot, it was usually just my mom, my siblings, Sienna and Dylan, and me,” Lauren wrote for The Players’ Tribune. “When we weren’t at school, we were at the beach, or out somewhere eating good food. I look back at photos sometimes, and I’m just kind of stunned that I had such a magical childhood, living in Spain and traveling to all these countries.”
Betts during the 2010 Eurocup, playing for Budivelnyk, a Ukrainian professional basketball club based in Kyiv.Miguel Henriquez - Getty ImagesHe also represented both the English and Great Britain national teams across a 15-year international career, earning 62 caps before retiring from international play in 2011. (England competes as its own nation in most international basketball competitions sanctioned by FIBA; Great Britain is a combined team drawn from England, Scotland, and Wales that competes in specific tournaments, most notably the Olympics and EuroBasket, the latter of which Andy competed in with Team GB.) Andy retired from professional basketball in 2011.
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