LSU guard Hailey Van Lith not named on list of 2024 WNBA Draft entries
LSU guard Hailey Van Lith will not be entering the 2024 WNBA Draft. A list of players no longer competing this season and thus entering the draft was released on Thursday, with Van Lith not being named on the list. Van Lith began her college career at Louisville, where she played three seasons.
Van Lith surprised many when she transferred to a loaded LSU squad ahead of the 2023-24 season, and the change of scenery also led to a change in role. She went from averaging nearly 20 points per game in more than 36 minutes a night as a junior at Louisville to 31.3 minutes a night and 11.6 points per game in her lone season with the Tigers.
Van Lith has an extra year of eligibility remaining as her freshman season didn’t count towards her total due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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And her head coach, Kim Mulkey, lobbied for her to stay another season.
“I hope it’s not her last game. But if it is, I’m proud to have been her coach for a year,” Mulkey said. “She’s got another year if she wants to come back. So does Angel [Reese]. I know they have to make decisions.
“But the thing that we talk about a lot, on the men’s side, we talk about one-and-dones and how terrible that is. You go through a period, you can’t have these players for long periods of time, they’re selfish, they’re going to take care of themselves. Look, everybody is different and everybody has to do what they’re going to do.”
While Van Lith could have stayed at Louisville and been the star of the show, she opted to take a supporting role in a bigger play. Mulkey couldn’t have been happier to have Van Lith in her troupe this past season.
“Hailey Van Lith came to LSU after being an abundant shooter. Shot it a lot at Louisville. Had great success. Was on good teams,” Mulkey said. “But she graduated in three years with a finance degree. She wanted to experience all the things I guess she saw from afar with our championship last year.
“For her to take that leap of faith and leave her comfort zone at Louisville, you don’t see many players do that when she was that big a piece to their puzzle. She has embraced learning a new position, taking less shots. Our last game against UCLA, I thought her stats were very good, but I’m an old point guard, and I see all that.”
In 2022, Van Lith led the Cardinals to the Final Four. In the process, she was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Wichita Regional. Van Lith hauled in All-America Honorable Mention honors from AP and the USBWA as a junior.
On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.