How Mystics rookie Lauren Betts is staying positive amid rocky and 'surreal' transition from UCLA to the WNBA

It has been quite the week for Washington Mystics rookie Lauren Betts. On Tuesday night, she was in Canada helping her team notch a 79-62 win over the Tempo. The win kept the Mystics in position to make the playoffs and clinched the season series over Toronto. On Wednesday, she was on stage in Los Angeles, dressed to the nines, accepting an ESPY Award as the Best Women's College Athlete and delivering a powerful speech on the importance of taking care of your mental health. 

"Your mental health is not separate from your success," Betts said. "It's the foundation of everything that you do. The strongest people aren't the ones who never struggle. They're the ones who have the courage to let someone walk through their struggle with them."

Less than 24 hours later, she was back on the east coast with the Mystics, suffering one of the team's worst losses of the season, a 75-56 dud to the Portland Fire.

It was, in many ways, a microcosm of the year for Betts, who just a few months ago was leading UCLA to a national championship and being floated as a potential No. 1 overall pick. Instead, the Dallas Wings chose UConn's Azzi Fudd and Betts went No. 4 overall, behind Olivia Miles to the Minnesota Lynx and Awa Fam to the Seattle Storm.

As other rookies are shining bright with their new teams, Betts' transition has been a bit rockier. She's only started one out of 23 games and is averaging 6.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest while playing just around 16 minutes per game. But the 22-year-old is anything but discouraged. 

Last week, Betts spoke with CBS Sports about adjusting to life in the pros and the people that are helping keep her grounded through it all.

'Welcome to the WNBA' 

Betts was still barely processing the fact that she had won a national championship with UCLA when she got her welcome to the WNBA moment in the form of a Brittney Griner block. 

"And I feel like, honestly, it's like an honor," Betts told CBS Sports. "I'm not really mad about it. I kind of love her, so I feel like when I got blocked, I was like, 'wow.' I can't even be mad."

In college, Betts was one of the toughest players to face in the paint, but she knows that getting to that same level of dominance in the WNBA will take some time.

"Obviously, it was a really quick transition, so I feel like I'm trying to take it day by day and just being where my feet are at," Betts said. "It was just kind of surreal how fast everything happened. I feel like I still haven't processed the fact that we won a national championship. Everything just happened so quickly."

Betts led UCLA with 17.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game during her senior year. She was the first Big Ten student-athlete to win the conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the same season. Most importantly, she led the Bruins to the first NCAA Tournament title in program history. 

Things are much different now for the 6-foot-7 center. The transition to the pros can be tough mentally, but fortunately some things do stay the same...

A mentor (extremely) close by 

Michaela Onyenwere was part of UCLA's coaching staff during the national championship season and she is now reunited with Betts – although this time as a teammate on the Mystics. 

"She still does tell everyone what to do," Betts laughed. "She's like the oldest person on this team. She tells everyone what to do still. We still call her Coach Mic just to get on her nerves, so that has never gone away. But I feel like she has had kind of the same role, for me at least. She's always just been giving me great advice and just guiding me throughout this season. Now it is crazy to be on the court with her because obviously she went to the same high school as me, so I've watched her for a very long time."

Even when things get hard, Betts said Onyenwere constantly reminds her that she is in the WNBA for a reason and she deserves to be here. The rookie got another nice reminder from her former UCLA coach Cori Close. 

"We are like her kids, so she's constantly checking in on all of us," Betts said. "She texted me a video of some kids that she was talking to that looked up to (my sister) Sienna and I at their camp, so that was really sweet to be able to talk to her about that."

Last week, the Mystics got a visit from Elena Delle Donne, who guided Washington to the franchise's first WNBA championship in 2019. She helped Betts with her workout, which was an experience the rookie valued greatly. 

"She just gave me little tips, posting up and all that," she said. "I feel like for someone who is so important with women's basketball and is such a big name -- and who has done so much for this league and this organization -- I feel like, just what a cool opportunity to learn from the best. She's been really helpful for our whole team."

Staying patient

While she might not be dominating the headlines with her stats so far this season, Betts is seeing improvements. 

She scored a career-high 18 points in just 21 minutes against Toronto on June 12. Five days later, she had her first career start against the Connecticut Sun. Betts has gotten better at reading ball screens, learned some more techniques on defense and is working hard to get better at playing on the perimeter.

In her most recent outing, Betts registered six points, four rebounds and one steal in just 12 minutes against Portland. While she is eager to be on the court, she has learned that staying in control is what helps her make smart decisions. 

"I feel like for me it's just focusing on my process every day. Just taking it day by day and taking it slow," Betts said last week. "When I don't get rushed, when I don't think too much and I'm not in my head, I just play. And just letting the game come to me. So I think just continue to build on this moving forward."

As she continues to navigate this new era, Betts is realistic about being a rookie and how much work – and patience – it's going to take for her to get the results she wants. 

"I think that it will come with time," she said. "And obviously I haven't had an offseason here with this team, so I think it will be really cool to just continue to develop throughout the rest of the season."