Hailey Van Lith Breaks Silence on WNBA Legend's Disrespectful Social Media Comment

Chicago Sky guard Hailey Van Lith was once a five-star recruit, who, before being selected No. 11 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft, had a career season at TCU.

She led the Horned Frogs program to its first-ever Big 12 tournament title, first-ever Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and was also named an All-American.

However, even with all of her accolades and a stat line that saw her average 17.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game, former five-time WNBA All-Star, Angel McCoughtry, revealed that she thinks Van Lith only got into the WNBA due to the fact she has millions of followers on social media.

"If Hailey Van Lith had 10,000 followers, would she be in the league? Let me ask you that," McCoughtry asked earlier this month.

While McCoughtry walked back those comments, Van Lith had yet to speak on the matter. That changed this week, as the Sky rookie addressed the comments on "In Case You Missed it" with Khristina Williams.

"You know, social media isn't real to me," Van Lith said. "It's virtual, it's digital, it's it's not physical, and so I don't respond. I don't address it. I have people bring things up to me about, you know, whatever the critics or the public may be saying in the moment. But at a very young age, I went on that I started that journey of you know, being exposed to public opinion. And so this is by far not the first time that this has happened, and it's just another you know, it's just another one for me."