WNBA Draft 2025: How TCU’s Hailey Van Lith went from afterthought to potential first-round pick

NOTE: This story contains discussion regarding suicidal thoughts.

Early in her college career, Hailey Van Lith looked like a potential lottery pick. She helped lead Louisville to the Final Four as a sophomore then averaged a career-high 19.7 points per game as a junior. But an ill-fated transfer to LSU for her senior campaign left her WNBA future very much in doubt this time a year ago. 

That has all changed after Van Lith decided to use her “COVID year” to return to college for a fifth season. She transferred again, this time to TCU, and excelled under coach Mark Campbell. Now, after taking the Horned Frogs to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, Van Lith is rising up draft boards and looks like a potential first-round pick. 

Ahead of the 2025 WNBA Draft, which is set for Monday night in New York, here’s a look at how Van Lith, who averaged 17.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists this season, was able to resurrect her career.

Finding herself

After TCU beat Louisville in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Van Lith spoke openly about the mental health struggles she has had to overcome in her career, and even revealed that at one point she had suicidal ideations. Before Van Lith could get back to her best on the court, she had to get back to her best off of it. 

Following the Horned Frogs’ season-ending defeat to Texas in the Elite Eight, Van Lith shared just how much TCU and Campbell have meant to her over the past year. 

“[Campbell] thanks me for coming to the program, but he took a risk on me,” Van Lith said. “He met me with full belief. He had a vision of who I thought I could be. At the beginning, he probably was convincing me that I could be that person. I wasn’t necessarily in a place where I knew who I was any more.

“He has just breathed life into me. And from a life perspective, he’s taught me a lot of great lessons about how to have healthy relationships and what it takes to have a healthy relationship, and how much better life can be if you just let people see who you are. And that’s hard for me.

“And so for me to feel comfortable and safe doing that with him, that took a lot of work on his part that he did not have to do,” Van Lith continued. “He could have told me to screw off when I was giving him problems. I’m forever grateful for him, and God put him in my life to transform it. And he certainly has done that.”

Role and system > talent

After years of playing a leading role for Louisville, Van Lith spent a lot of time without the ball in Baton Rouge. Her usage rate plummetted to a career-low 19.1% and she was an afterthought at times on a stacked LSU team. Without a consistent role, she struggled to find a rhythm and had the least efficient season of her career with a 50.1 true shooting percentage. 

In Fort Worth, Campbell put the ball back in Van Lith’s hands and let her run the show in his spread pick-and-roll system. Van Lith had 181 pick-and-roll possessions at LSU. This season she had 607. Overall, her usage jumped to 27.2%, and so did her efficiency. Her 67.2 true shooting percentage was a career high. 

When Van Lith ran pick-and-roll, the Horned Frogs scored 0.952 points per possession, which ranked ninth among the 51 players who averaged at least 10 pick-and-roll possessions per game, and her turnover rate was just 12.2%. 

Van Lith had a career-high 10 assists in multiple games, including TCU’s win over Louisville in the tournament, and her 5.4 assists per game and 29% assist rate were also career bests. Despite having the ball in her hands far more often this season, her turnover rate dropped to 16% and her 1.79 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked seventh among players with at least a 25% usage. 

While Van Lith has always been able to put the ball in the basket, it’s hard to make it at the next level as a small shooting guard with an inconsistent outside shot. The playmaking leap she took this season at TCU makes her much more viable as a WNBA prospect. 

A trip to Paris

A big part of Van Lith’s development actually took place at the Olympics during last summer’s Paris Games. She was chosen to represent Team USA in 3×3 basketball, becoming the first American basketball player to participate in the Olympics during their NCAA career since 1988. 

“It makes you so much better as a player; it exposes your weaknesses,” Van Lith said prior to the Olympics. “If you can’t shoot, if you can’t play defense, can’t dribble, you’re put in that situation at some point during every game. And it’s going to make me so much better as a player.”

While Team USA got off to a disappointing start in the tournament, Van Lith helped the Americans bounce back to eventually capture the bronze medal. She led the team in both points (49) and assists (13). 

Reflecting back on the experience, Van Lith told The Next early in March that playing in Paris was a big boost for her game and confidence. 

“I think it’s helped a ton with the pick-and-roll,” Van Lith told The Next. “With Sedona [Prince], we’re a very pick-and-roll-heavy team, and I was able to get a lot of reps at reads in the pick-and-roll. I think it helped a lot with me being able to throw the pocket pass, with me being able to throw back to the guard that’s filling behind. That’s the No. 1 area, I think.

“And also, one-on-one, it’s helped me play in small spaces. I don’t always need a ton of room to get a shot off now.”

Helped by deferrals

Van Lith has put in a lot of work over the past year, both on and off the court, to put herself in a position to be drafted in the first round. At the same time, she’s been helped by some big-name players deciding to go back to school. 

Notre Dame star Olivia Miles was the projected No. 2 overall pick, but after Van Lith and TCU eliminated the Fighting Irish in the Sweet 16, she made a stunning decision to not only forgo the draft, but enter the transfer portal. Coincidentally, Miles landed at TCU. In addition, both LSU star Flau’jae Johnson and UConn’s Azzi Fudd, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, will remain in college. 

Miles, Johnson and Fudd would have arguably been the three best backcourt prospects in this class. Without them in the mix, teams that need a guard will have to look elsewhere, perhaps to Van Lith. 

Where will Van Lith be drafted?

There are a lot of unique factors at play in this draft. 

Not only have a number of key players returned to school, but there is extreme uncertainty about the future of the league. A new collective bargaining agreement is expected to be in place at the start of the 2026 season, which will drastically alter salary structures, and nearly every player who is not currently on a rookie-scale contract will become a free agent after this season. Plus, the Golden State Valkyries will begin play this season, and the Toronto Tempo and a yet unnamed Portland franchise set to join the WNBA in 2026.

Some teams may take a win-now approach while they know exactly what their roster looks like and what the rules are. Others may take a long view and ignore current roster fit knowing that they will make many changes in the winter. 

All of which is to say, it’s very hard to figure out how this draft will go after the first few picks. 

As of now, the No. 8-11 range looks like a good bet for Van Lith. The Connecticut Sun, who have two picks in the first round, Los Angeles Sparks and Chicago Sky are all rebuilding and need a guard for the future, while the Minnesota Lynx could use some extra firepower off the bench. 

It would not be a major surprise if Van Lith ends up slipping into the beginning of the second round, though. After all, she stands just 5-foot-9 and there are some real questions about how she’ll hold up defensively.

Regardless, Van Lith’s story is one that didn’t quite appear to have the promise of an WNBA chapter this time a year ago.