The Connecticut Sun, currently at the bottom of the standings, made a strategic move on Thursday by releasing Hailey Van Lith to make room for French guard Leïla Lacan. However, Van Lith’s absence will be brief as she has rejoined the team under a developmental contract, according to an announcement made on Saturday.
After the Chicago Sky, who originally picked her 11th in the 2025 WNBA Draft, released Van Lith in the preseason, she managed to play nine games with three starts for the Sun. The team, struggling with a 1-8 start, decided to waive Van Lith to bring back Lacan, who was the 10th pick in the 2024 Draft. Lacan had just finished a successful stint overseas, leading Basket Landes to a championship in France.
At 21, Lacan is already making her mark as one of the premier perimeter defenders in the WNBA, averaging 10.4 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.2 steals while shooting 47.7% in 26.6 minutes per game as a rookie. The Sun, facing a dismal minus-17.6 net rating, saw a significant difference last season with Lacan on the court, where they had a minus-0.5 net rating, compared to a minus-18.1 without her.
Van Lith, now 24, expressed her gratitude towards the Sun for their openness and the opportunity to continue her development. According to ESPN, she believes staying in Connecticut aligns best with her short-term growth and long-term career objectives.
What is a developmental contract?
Under the WNBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement, the standard roster size remains unchanged, but a new player development system has been introduced. Each team can now have two developmental roster spots that don’t impact the salary cap. Players qualify for these spots if they have less than four years of service or under six years with limited playtime in the previous regular season.
These players receive full benefits, a small stipend, and bonuses for each game they participate in. However, they are restricted to playing only 12 games per season. If they reach this limit, the team must either promote them to a standard contract with the applicable minimum salary or release them. Importantly, the nine games Van Lith played this season under a standard contract do not count against this 12-game developmental limit.
“The number of development player games are only while the player is on a development contract with a given team,” a league spokesperson told CBS Sports.
Why has Van Lith struggled to stick on a roster?
Van Lith’s rookie season in Chicago was marred by injuries and inconsistent playing time. And when she did get on the floor, she had a tough time on both sides of the ball. In 29 appearances last season, she averaged 3.5 points and 1.6 assists on 33.9/16.1/74.2 shooting splits. It was no surprise that Chicago waived her given their crowded backcourt.
Likewise, it was no surprise that another team took a chance on Van Lith given her age and pedigree, and she got off to a very strong start for the Sun. Van Lith averaged 11.2 points and 3.2 assists on 57.5% shooting, including 53.8% from 3-point range, in her first five games with the team. However, a sizeable chunk of her production came in garbage time — overall, 10 of her 30 baskets with the Sun came when the team was down double digits in the fourth quarter — and she struggled to maintain her fast start. Over the last four games, she averaged 4.3 points and one assist on 33.3% shooting overall, including 25% from 3-point range, and her playing time was cut to 13.8 minutes per night.
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As good as Van Lith looked at times with Connecticut, she’s still a small guard (she’s listed at 5-foot-9, which is probably a bit generous) with an inconsistent jump shot who struggles to defend. She can’t do anything about her size or general lack of athleticism compared to other perimeter players. Unless she becomes a much better shooter and/or defender, her opportunities are always going to be limited.
Plus, now that Van Lith has been waived multiple times and is signing unprotected minimum contracts, it doesn’t cost teams anything to cut her, which only makes her more expendable.
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. 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 grew as a point guard in the Horned Frogs’ spread pick-and-roll system and led the team to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history while boosting 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)
