A few days ago, Lauren Jackson announced that she would be retiring from the WNBA. Today people are still reeling from the news. Although Jackson’s had several injuries, including multiple knee surgeries, and many fans have already been speculating that she would not be returning to the game, most still believed that she would return at some point in time. Those individuals are the ones who are taking to social media so shocked by the news, fervently begging her to reconsider her decision. After all, in 20 years, she is arguably one of the best players in the WNBA.

ACFID President Sam Mostyn told Jackson on Twitter, “Thank you on both a brilliant sports career & advocacy for women everywhere.” While some fans are saying that she’s the best athlete to ever come from Australia, others are also pointing out that she should not be called the best “female player” since she is the best player in history.

Jackson herself gave some notable quotes about her experience. “Women have to sacrifice a lot to become professional athletes,” she said. “They can’t get married, have babies and children, and come back and play. That’s hard. Men, they don’t have to worry about that.” It should be pointed out that while Jackson’s comments are not entirely wrong, there are moms and wives in the WNBA, including Abby Bishop of the Storm, who adopted her niece.

Jackson went on to say, “I’m not afraid of what’s to come. I want to have a family. I want to have kids. I want to finish Uni. Now I have the time to do it. I’m excited. I can relax and just hopefully I can move on.” Hopefully Jackson understands that relaxing has very little to do with having kids and finishing college—especially at the same time!—but it is great that she is going after what she wants and we wish her the best of luck in all of her future goals. Jackson says that she is leaving the love of her life in order to pursue these new dreams so they are surely very important to her.

Now that Jackson is not in the WNBA anymore, who do you think will get billing as the top player? Could it be the Storm’s own Sue Bird? Maybe Jewel l Loyd? Tell us who you think the top WNBA player is in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia