Lara Gweneth McSpadden (born 2 April 1999) is an Australian professional basketball player.

Early life

McSpadden was born in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

Professional career

WNBL

McSpadden began her professional career with the

Sydney Uni Flames The Sydney Flames are an Australian professional basketball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Flames compete in the Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketba ...

in the

2016–17 WNBL season The 2016–17 WNBL season is the 37th season of competition since its establishment in 1981. The regular season begins on October 7, 2016 when the Sydney Uni Flames host the Perth Lynx and is scheduled to conclude on February 19, 2017. Townsville ...

. She played four seasons for the Flames, leaving following the 2019–20 WNBL season. McSpadden joined the

Townsville Fire The Townsville Fire are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The Fire are based in Townsville, Queensland, and play their home games at Townsville Entertainment and Convention Ce ...

for the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland. She continued on with the Fire in 2021–22 and

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. For the

2023–24 WNBL season The 2023–24 WNBL season is the 44th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Townsville Fire were the defending champions, but were defeated in the Semi-Finals by Perth. The Southside Flyers won their fifth championship ti ...

, McSpadden returned to the Sydney Flames. On 3 July 2025, McSpadden signed a two-year deal with the Sydney Flames.

State Leagues

In 2015, McSpadden played for the Newcastle Hunters in the

Waratah League NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an intern ...

. In 2016, she played for the

BA Centre of Excellence The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Bruce, Can ...

in the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

(SEABL). In 2017 and 2018, she played for the Sydney Sparks in the SEABL. She returned to the Hunters for the 2019 Waratah League season and continued with Newcastle in 2020. In 2021, McSpadden joined the Rockhampton Cyclones of the

NBL1 North NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...

. She continued with the Cyclones in 2022, 2023 and 2024. She joined the Diamond Valley Eagles for the 2025

NBL1 South NBL1 South is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria (state), Victoria and Tasmania, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (Australia), ...

season.

Other

In 2024, McSpadden helped the

Tauranga Whai The Tauranga Whai are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. The Whai compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Mercury Baypark. Team history In December 2021, the Bay ...

win the

Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa The Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa is a women's professional basketball league in New Zealand. History In December 2021, a new women's national basketball league was established for 2022 with five new franchises. The league's name ''Tauihi Basket ...

championship. In January 2025, McSpadden joined BK Lokomotiva Trutnov of the

Czech Women's Basketball League Czech Championship women's basketball (Czech language, Czech: ''Česká ženská basketbalová liga'') - basketball tournament among Czech women's teams. The first draw took place in 1993, which became the champions of the Prague team USK Praha (wo ...

. In 12 games to finish the 2024–25 season, she averaged 10.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

National team career

McSpadden made her international debut at the 2015 FIBA Oceania Under-16 Championship for Women in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with the U17 Sapphires, where she helped them qualify for the world championship the following year. At the world championship, the Sapphires won their inaugural title in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. After snapping Team USA's 28-game win streak at U17 level, Australia went on to take home Gold. McSpadden went on to represent Australia at the

2017 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup The 2017 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup () was hosted by Italy from 22 to 30 July 2017. Russia won their first title (or third if the Soviet Union is included) by defeating the United States 86–82 in the final. The bronze medal w ...

and the 2019 World University Games. In May 2025, McSpadden was named in the Australian national 3x3 team for the

FIBA 3x3 Women's Series The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, o ...

in China, where the team won silver.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McSpadden, Lara 1999 births Living people Australian women's basketball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Centers (basketball) Basketball players from Sydney Sydney Uni Flames players Townsville Fire players FISU World University Games gold medalists for Australia Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Sportswomen from New South Wales