5-Time All-Star Apologizes for Hailey Van Lith WNBA Worthiness Diss

During her June 18 appearance on the Let Her Shoot! podcast, five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA scoring champion Angel McCoughtry conveyed that she doesn't believe that Chicago Sky rookie Hailey Van Lith deserves to be in the WNBA.

"Hailey Van Lith, she's a decent player. Is there players out there [not in the WNBA] who may be better than Hailey Van Lith? I believe so. [But] they're not popular," McCoughtry said.

"If Hailey Van Lith had 10,000 followers, would she be in the league?... Honestly, if we just talk about her true talent, take away the followers, just from her talent right now, would she be in the league if she had 10,000 followers?" she added, before the podcast's co-hosts both said that Van Lith wouldn't be.

These comments received a ton of criticism. And on June 21, McCoughtry issued an apology for her words.

"So y'all know one thing I ain't is a hater. I ain't never hated on nobody, and those words never come out my mouth," McCoughtry said from her Instagram. "Now, my mistake I made was giving a point with the wrong delivery. I shouldn't have used a certain player to make an example of a point I was trying to make. And I want to apologize for that, because I was wrong. I can take accountability when I'm wrong, y'all."

McCoughtry added, "So I'm gonna apologize to Hailey for that, because you worked hard for everything you got. You deserve it all, plus more... So I apologize for how I delivered that, and I can take accountability."