Basketball Australia opts to shelve planned WNBL tournament named for Albury's champion Lauren Jackson

The Lauren Jackson Cup was to be a preseason contest for Women's National Basketball League clubs ahead of the new championship beginning in November.

It would have been held at Albury's Lauren Jackson Sports Centre which honours the basketball champion who at the weekend capped her comeback to the Australian team with a bronze medal win at the World Cup in Sydney.

Head of the WNBL Christy Collier Hill said the failure to secure NSW government funding halted the games.

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"We were unsuccessful in our quest to receive grant funding to host the event this year," she said.

"We will be reapplying next year."

Albury deputy mayor Steve Bowen said the cancellation of the cup for 2022 was "an issue which is very disappointing indeed".

It follows the council having been unsuccessful in obtaining $5 million of state government funding to go towards an $11 million upgrade of the stadium.

The council is now waiting to discover whether it will be successful in the second round of funding for the multi-sport community facility fund, which is due to be announced next month.

The arena scored a mention in a recent article in The New York Times which told of Jackson's basketball rebirth with the Border's Bandits.

"In time, she returned to the court, at age 40, at a local facility named in her honor (sic): the Lauren Jackson Sports Center (sic)," it stated.

The Times added: "Local players were star-struck - and a little intimidated, even unhappy, to be facing down a legend of the game."

"There were a lot of complaints," Jackson told the newspaper.

"I was like: 'I'm a single mom (sic), I've just had two kids and I have a knee replacement - and you're complaining?' But it was fun, a lot of fun."

Jackson has signed to play for the Melbourne-based Southside Flyers in the WNBL this season.

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