Jackie Young has been one of the winningest WNBA players of the current decade. Since starting her career with the Las Vegas Aces, she has won three titles, all of which came in the last four years.
However, like any WNBA star, she’s had some twists and turns along the way in her professional basketball career. There was one in particular that Young herself cited as having a very impactful effect on her career.
What was the Turning Point in Jackie Young’s Career?
After helping the Aces win their third title in four years, Young visited Raising Cane’s and talked about her career. She explained how her experience in Australia changed her career.
“I would say playing in Australia was probably a turning point in my career,” Young told reporters. “I spent a lot of time in the gym over there. We’d wake up really early and go box, and then we would go to our actual gym and get our lift in…
And then we’d have practice after so, yeah, that’s where I spent, like, most of my time, and we’re overseas, it was the time change. You don’t talk to your family as much, so you have a lot of time to just work on yourself.”
Women’s Pro Basketball Champion @JackieYoung3, Raising Cane’s Crewmember, and Silent Assassin. ⁰ ⁰4x All-Star⁰3x Women’s Pro Basketball Champion⁰2x Medalist⁰1x Cane’s Crewmember pic.twitter.com/ZGwXFE6PPU
— Raising Cane’s (@raisingcanes) October 15, 2025
For context, Young began playing professional basketball in the WNBL in 2021, joining the Perth Lynx. In only one season with the team, she won Team MVP and was the league’s runner-up for MVP. The Lynx would lose in the WNBL Finals that season.
Young’s WNBA numbers also started to increase after her time in Australia. She went on to average 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals a game, all of which were career highs. Better yet, her improvement also contributed to the Aces winning their first of what would be three titles in the next four years.
Given her success in her brief time in the WNBL, that doesn’t seem to be a coincidence. It’s not like Young is single-handedly responsible for why Las Vegas has been consistently successful for the last several years, but it’s fair to suggest that Young’s improvement was a key ingredient in how they’ve won so much in such a short time.
There’s also no telling how many more titles she and the Aces could win from here. It’s pretty standard for WNBA players like Young to go play overseas during the WNBA offseason, but it’s not all too typical for one to learn as much as Young did when she played in Australia.