WASHINGTON — So far this year, Lauren Betts has led UCLA to the NCAA title, received congratulations from LeBron James, been the No. 4 pick in the WNBA draft, and signed a shoe contract with Reebok.

Pardon Betts if she must pinch herself to realize all of this really has happened.

“I couldn’t have envisioned any of this if you would have asked me five years ago,’’ Betts told The Denver Gazette. “This is crazy.”

Five years ago, Betts was preparing to enter her senior year at Grandview High School in Aurora. After that, the 6-foot-7 center played one season at Stanford and three at UCLA and is now a rookie with the Washington Mystics.

The Mystics, who already had a pair of top post players as starters in fifth-year center Shakira Austin and second-year power forward Kiki Iriafen, are bringing Betts along slowly. Betts is averaging 6.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16.6 minutes through Wednesday, when the Mystics (8-8) lost 78-76 at home to the Minnesota Lynx to have their three-game winning streak snapped.

But don’t think the Mystics aren’t enamored with Betts’ potential.

“She’s been fantastic,’’ said head coach Sydney Johnson. “I think we’ve thrown a lot at her both within our schemes and system but also just the level of play, it’s times 10 (from college). … There’s just no easy outs in this league. For her to take to the coaching, the new environment, stay competitive, keep your confidence, that’s a big ask. She’s got a tremendously bright future here. We feel like she can be a standout, but it takes time.”

For now, Betts is remaining patient.

“It’s obviously an adjustment,’’’ she said after Tuesday’s practice at CareFirst Arena. “But I think it’s hard regardless of who you are as a rookie. These are the best of the best players and this is the best league in the world. … So I think it’s just staying patient.”

Last spring, Betts was the best of the best in college. In UCLA’s 51-44 win over Texas in an NCAA semifinal on April 3, she had 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in Phoenix. Two days later, in a 79-41 rout of South Carolina in the NCAA title game, she had 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.

Betts was named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. Then she did a dance with teammates Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez to Tate McCrae’s “Just Keep Watching.”

“Tate McRae reposted that dance we did of hers and that was amazing,’’ she said.

Other amazing things happened after UCLA concluded a 37-1 season by winning the first NCAA women’s basketball title in school history. The players went to a Lakers game and were congratulated by James, which she called “a pretty big deal.” Betts threw out the first pitch before a Washington Nationals game on April 18.

“It was amazing and surreal to win a national championship,’’ she said. “I still get goose bumps thinking about it. … I think that the team really blew up after winning the national championship. It’s the biggest stage. We had the second-most viewed national championship (game). I think people just really loved our team and what we stood for and how close we were and that bond that we had. Our fanbase has gotten really big.”

Barely a week after the championship win, Betts was taken with the No. 4 pick in the WNBA draft. The Mystics went into the April 13 event not knowing if Betts would be available at that spot.

“We felt like we got a steal,’’ Johnson said. “We were super excited. We tracked her all season long and did our homework. … I just couldn’t believe that we got her at that point and I think I might have told her that. And now months later, I’m still feeling like, ‘Man, we did as well as we could in terms of like beating everyone out for this fantastic player.”’

Those at Reebok have felt the same way, signing Betts after the draft to a shoe deal. She said she can’t give any specifics about what forthcoming model of Reebok shoe she could be wearing and whether she will appear in commercials, but she did speak of the opportunity.

“It was an incredible deal for me,’’ said Betts, wearing a pair of Reebok tennis shoes and a hoodie with the brand name on the front. “It’s like a family. They’ve been really welcoming for me, and I love that they really value their women’s basketball players.”

Despite all this recent success, Betts, 22, hasn’t forgotten what transpired earlier in her career. In an article published in March on The Players’ Tribune, she wrote about mental health issues that had bogged her down. Betts, who is the daughter of former NBA draft pick and European pro center Andrew Betts, wrote about growing up in Spain and experiencing “culture shock” after moving to Colorado in the third grade and being uncomfortable with how her height was critiqued by other kids.

After being named Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School Player of the Year and leading Grandview to a state title, Betts wrote about being “miserable” mentally when she played at Stanford in 2022-23 and averaged just 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds. She wrote about missing four games at UCLA in 2023-24, when she was suffering from depression and checked into a “psych ward” at a hospital.

Betts bounced back with the help of a therapist. She averaged 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds as a UCLA junior in 2024-25 and 17.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in 2025-26 while being a first-team All-American each season. Betts is grateful that by going public with her story, she has been able to help others.

“I get flooded with (direct messages) and texts almost every day and I’m not even being dramatic,’’ she said. “There are so many people who have reached out about that article and said that it’s helped them, even like saved them. And so to be in that position and know that being vulnerable and going through all of that has helped other people, I feel like it’s helped me heal so much and I’m just going to continue to be open about my story and hope it helps more people.”

Betts doesn’t deny that being in a better place mentally has helped her in going from a star college player earlier this year to being a reserve in the pros.

“I think that as I’ve gotten older, a lot of the work that I’ve done mentally is for moments like these,’’ she said. “Obviously, going into a new system, playing professionally in such a quick turnaround is incredibly challenging sometimes. But I think it’s just really going into like all of my skills that I’ve learned over time and the way that I process things is just so much different now. So I’m able to just cope with it and do things that I really enjoy and fill my cup every day.

“It’s really helped me, and I think also using gratitude each day. I’m literally living my dream out, so it’s hard not to be grateful for being here. … It’s been really fun. … Playing against a lot of my childhood heroes has been really cool.”

Betts did show some flashes in recent games about the player she could become when given more playing time. She had a career-high 18 points in 21 minutes in an 86-85 win over Toronto on June 12. In her only WNBA start to date, with Austin out with a knee soreness, she had 13 points and seven rebounds in 32 minutes in an 88-81 win at Connecticut on June 17.

“Yeah,’’ Betts said about those games helping her confidence. “I think the more reps I get and the more minutes and being able to just learn from every single game and watch film and just continue to get better and stack days, that’s the goal.”

While Betts is a post player, she called it important to improve her game on the outside.

“I think just continuing to be comfortable being around the perimeter and putting the ball on the floor and just continue to shoot the ball, and I think just spacing and just reading the floor a lot better,’’ she said. “That’ll come with time.”

Nevertheless, Christy Winters-Scott, the Mystics’ television analyst, likes what she has seen so far from Betts. The 6-3 Winters-Scott was a star center at Maryland from 1986-90.

“I think she’s adjusted well,’’ Winters-Scott said. “I think she looks even more comfortable every single possession, but obviously there’s a lot more to play in this season. So I think there’s also room for improvement in every way, but I think it’s not an easy task. … Coming in as a rookie is probably one of the most challenging times, but I think she’s handling it well.”

Betts quickly has become popular with her teammates.

“She’s a great player and more a great person and she loves her teammates,’’ said guard Cotie McMahon, a fellow rookie. “She’s there for each and every one of us. … She’s very outgoing, she’s very loving. She can be loud a little bit but we love it. We just love to have fun.”

Meanwhile, Betts is having fun off the court with her brother, Dylan Betts, a 7-3 center who played last season as a sophomore at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., after being at Cherry Creek High School as a freshman. Dylan also inherited height from the 7-1 Andrew Betts and athleticism from Michelle Betts, their mother who was on Long Beach State’s 1993 NCAA champion volleyball team.

Dylan is rated as one of the top recruits in the class of 2028. He recently wrote on social media that he had received an offer from USC, UCLA’s archrival. Lauren immediately responded with a message saying, “No. Absolutely not.”

“That’s a pretty real rivalry, so I just wouldn’t want my brother going there,’’ she said. “If anything, I’m like, ‘You don’t have to go to UCLA. It’s your choice, but that school for sure you’re not going to.”’

Lauren said her brother joked to her he might go to USC “just to make me mad.” Regardless, she called him an “incredible” player.

“He’s got so much potential,’’ she said. “He’s getting so much better. I think his work ethic is just continuing to grow, so I think he truly believes that he’s going to be an amazing player. … It’s pretty surreal to see your little brother going through the process of getting recruited and then talking about colleges. He’s still like my baby to me so it’s crazy.”

Lauren is hopeful her brother can go on to have the type of college success she had as long as it’s not at USC.