- Washington Mystics rookie Lauren Betts has signed with LIFT Sports Management for on- and off-court representation, with agent Kailey Edwards leading the deal.
- The move follows Edwards's exit from WME, where she previously represented Betts, to become LIFT's VP of Women's Sports & Business Development.
- Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles, another Edwards client from the same 2026 draft class, has also moved her representation to LIFT.
- Betts is in year one of a four-year Mystics rookie deal reportedly worth $1.82 million.
Lauren Betts, the Washington Mystics’ rookie center, has signed with LIFT Sports Management for on- and off-court representation. The move follows agent Kailey Edwards’s departure from WME, where she represented Betts, to join LIFT as Vice President of Women’s Sports & Business Development.
Edwards began representing Betts in October 2024, guiding her through a record senior season at UCLA that ended with a national championship, Most Outstanding Player honors, and a No. 4 overall selection by the Mystics in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Olivia Miles, the draft’s No. 2 pick and another Edwards client, has followed her to LIFT as well, giving the agency two of the class’s most closely watched rookies.
At LIFT, Edwards will continue overseeing both sides of Betts’s career. Betts is currently on a four-year rookie deal with Washington reportedly worth $1.82 million and has kept building her brand off the court, including a Reebok shoe deal signed just two days after the draft, joining Angel Reese on the brand’s WNBA roster.
She capped her breakout year with the 2026 Honda Cup and an ESPY for best college athlete in women’s sports.
For LIFT, the signing extends a fast-growing basketball roster. The agency recently added Aneesah Morrow for on-field representation and inked Julian Reese, whose rookie season included a rebounding record tied with Shaquille O’Neal.
With Edwards now steering its women’s sports division, LIFT is positioning itself as a real alternative to the major agencies that have long dominated WNBA representation.
Takeaways
This is less a story about Betts changing her mind and more about her agent changing addresses; a reminder that in modern athlete representation, loyalty often follows the individual agent, not the name on the letterhead.
By landing both Betts and Miles in the same move, LIFT instantly picks up two of the WNBA’s most bankable rookies and a foothold in women’s basketball representation that took some rivals years to build.
With Edwards building LIFT’s women’s sports division from the inside, and Betts barely a season into her pro career, this reads like an opening chapter rather than a standalone deal.
Will other Edwards clients follow her from WME to LIFT in the months ahead? Can LIFT turn its basketball momentum into major national brand deals for Betts beyond Reebok?
