E-Paper
Did Lauren Betts cry after meeting LeBron James? UCLA star’s reaction goes viral
UCLA's Lauren Betts, named NCAA Most Outstanding Player, experienced a fan moment meeting LeBron James at a Lakers event. A viral video captured her reaction.
Prefer HTon Google
Even the freshly crowned NCAA Most Outstanding Player, Lauren Betts couldn't exempt herself of a full-scale celebrity meltdown in the presence of LeBron James. On Tuesday night, UCLA women’s basketball centre Lauren Betts was filmed in a social media clip almost losing her head completely after meeting the Los Angeles Lakers icon at Crypto.com arena.
There, she and her teammates had been invited to have their NCAA long championship victory over South Carolina honored.
A video circulating online showed Betts reacting emotionally after noticing James in the arena.
The words that broke the internet
When Betts mentioned in the video that she was scanning the word guys multiple times, before uttering the sentence that caused the internet to start losing it: LeBron made eye contact with me. LeBron James!"
A Yahoo Sports report claims that Betts was present at the arena to receive an honorary by the Lakers after UCLA had scored a historic 79-51 in the NCAA Tournament final, the game where she was the Most Outstanding Player. James himself was not involved in the Lakers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder that night because of left foot injury treatment, but the fact that he was in the building was sufficient to turn a national champion into a quiveling fan.
Who is Lauren Betts?
Betts established herself throughout this season as one of the most intimidating interior players in college basketball, scoring 17.1 and averaging 2.1 blocks per game and dominating the paint on both ends of the court with her imposing 6-foot-7 figure.
In a Sports Illustrated article, her most notable moment of the tournament was when she blocked Texas in the Final Four and commentator Ryan Ruocco called it ''a block of the ages'' a block that immediately drew comparisons to a legendary block by LeBron James on Andre Iguodala in the 2016 NBA Finals. This confidence is what Cori Close, the head coach of UCLA said prior to the championship game, saying: "I really did expect us to win today. I felt very peaceful all day''.
The most attractive emerging star of WNBA
A CBS Sports report has already pegged the 6-foot-7 Betts to be in the first five of the 2026 WNBA Draft, projected as the best rim protector in her class and a player who has greatly enhanced her defensive mobility over the course of her college career.
The week before the Lakers match had been bizarre to the Stanford born center as she had won the national championship the Most Outstanding Player award, and the national acclaim as one of the strongest and most attractive emerging stars of women basketball.
An EssentiallySports article states that when Betts was enjoying her surreal courtside experience, the Lakers were being demolished 123-87 by the Thunder a fact that was aggravated by the injury of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves as well as Jake resting.
By: Vidushi Mishra
