The Chicago Sky’s busy offseason continued Monday when the team waived former first-round pick Hailey Van Lith and signed veteran point guard Natasha Cloud. Van Lith, the No. 11 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, was let go due to the coaching staff’s “style-of-play preference,” according to ESPN.
A little over a year ago, Van Lith was coming off the best season of her college career and was one of the biggest names in women’s basketball. Now, she’s searching for a new team. What happened, and where does she go from here?
Van Lith’s résumé
Van Lith was a high school prodigy in Washington. She once recorded a quadruple-double, earned the respect of Kobe Bryant, who asked her to mentor his daughter, Gianna, helped Team USA win gold at the U17 and U19 World Cups and was ranked the No. 7 recruit in her class.
She spent the first three seasons of her college career at Louisville, where she was named to the All-ACC First Team as a sophomore and junior, and an AP All-American Honorable Mention as a junior. But after leading the Cardinals to the Elite Eight in 2023, she decided to transfer to LSU.
Van Lith’s lone season in Baton Rouge did not go to plan. She struggled in a significantly reduced role next to Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson, and got embarrassed by Caitlin Clark in the Elite Eight. Instead of entering the WNBA draft, she used her extra year of eligibility to transfer again, this time to TCU.
In Fort Worth, Van Lith enjoyed tremendous success. She excelled in Mark Campbell’s spread pick-and-roll system, which helped her grow as a point guard, led the Horned Frogs to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, earned AP Third Team All-American honors, and boosted her draft stock.
In 172 career games at the college level — tied for the most in Division I history — Van Lith averaged 15.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.3 steals, and earned the following honors:
- AP Third-Team All-American (2025)
- Big 12 Player of the Year (2025)
- All-Big-12 First-Team (2025)
- All-ACC First Team (2022, 2023)
- AP All-American Honorable Mention (2023)
What went wrong for Van Lith in Chicago?
After her impressive season for TCU, the Sky selected Van Lith with the No. 11 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
“Hailey Van Lith made an impact on multiple contending teams across her collegiate and international career, and we expect her winning ability to translate,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca mentioned at the time. “We’re excited to add her talent and versatility to the Sky.”
Van Lith never got much of a chance as a rookie due to a number of factors: persistent ankle issues (which eventually led to offseason surgery), inexperience, her size (5-foot-9), poor shooting and turnover issues. In 29 games, she averaged 12.4 minutes, 3.5 points, 1.6 assists and 1.2 turnovers on 33.9/16.1/74.2 shooting splits.
Small guards are inherently at a disadvantage, and Van Lith doesn’t have the necessary skill or athleticism to overcome her lack of size at the pro level. She’s always been a better scorer than playmaker, but, dating back to her college career, has never been a reliable jump shooter. It’s almost impossible to make it in the W as a small shooting guard who can’t actually shoot.
Even before the Sky signed Cloud, the writing was on the wall for Van Lith. As part of their offseason overhaul, the Sky signed Skylar Diggins, re-signed Courtney Vandersloot and traded for Jacy Sheldon, never mind the addition of bigger perimeter players such as DiJonai Carrington and Gabriela Jaquez.
There was simply not going to be any playing time for Van Lith in Chicago this season, even if she had made the roster.
What’s next for Van Lith?
The good news for Van Lith is that she’ll likely get another chance, thanks in part to expansion and the new collective bargaining agreement. Her representation is holding “active conversations” with “a number of teams throughout the league” ahead of opening night, according to ESPN.
First of all, the 24-year-old Van Lith is a big name with an impressive college résumé and a former first-round pick. That alone will get her in the door. Secondly, there are now 15 teams in the league with the addition of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, up from 12 teams in 2023. And, thirdly, the new CBA not only mandates that every team use all 12 roster spots but also creates two new developmental roster spots per team.
Even if Van Lith is unable to secure a full roster spot to begin the season, there’s a good chance that a team will give her a developmental spot to see if she can improve and help them in the future. Players on developmental roster spots can only appear in a maximum of 12 games per season, but are allowed unlimited practice and individual training time with the coaching staff.
As much as she struggled as a rookie, she did have a 20-point preseason outing and has a tremendous work ethic. Some team will be willing to take a chance on her, especially now that there’s no risk for them to do so. Two teams to keep an eye on are the Fire and the Seattle Storm, both of which are beginning long-term projects. Van Lith, who hails from the Pacific Northwest, could be a fit for either franchise looking for a local prospect who might draw attention.
