WNBA rookie Hailey Van Lith slammed for ‘disrespecting’ Caitlin Clark at draft amid rivals’ tense history

There are no right answers in ‘Start, Bench, Cut,’ as WNBA rookie Hailey Van Lith learned before being drafted by the Chicago Sky on Monday night in New York.

The childish game is designed to put participants on the spot by asking them to rank well-known athletes. And in the WNBA universe, where Caitlin Clark’s meteoric rise has been a bit polarizing, fans of the Indiana Fever sensation are notoriously protective.

So when asked to categorize Clark, WNBA legend Diana Taurasi and New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, the TCU product was in an undeniably tough spot. 

‘Oh my gosh,’ Hailey Van Lith told her interviewer on the WNBA’s orange carpet. ‘Give flowers to the legend. We’re gonna start Diana Taurasi…I’m going to bench Sabrina [Ionescu] and cut Caitlin [Clark].’

The perceived slight against Clark was not received well online.  

‘HLV dead to me,’ one critic wrote on X amid a flurry of complaints.

Caitlin Clark took the Indiana Fever from the WNBA basement to the playoffs in 2024

Of course, Van Lith certainly had her reasons. 

Taurasi is a six-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time WNBA champion, 11-time All-Star, and three-time NCAA champion. And in addition to being the 2004 WNBA rookie of the Year and 2009 MVP, she’s also the league’s all-time leading scorer.

And then there’s Ionescu, a reigning WNBA champion and three-time All-Star who happens to have been mentored by the late Kobe Bryant.

Clark, for all of her success, hasn’t reached those milestones just yet, even if she did take the Indiana Fever from the bottom of the WNBA to the playoffs in her first season.

Of course, Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes did beat Van Lith’s Louisville Cardinals and LSU Lady Tigers, respectively, in the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Tournaments. So, when fans perceived Van Lith’s comment as an attack on Clark, their minds naturally turned to the rivals’ shared history.

‘When will she learn?’ one critic asked alongside a photo of Van Lith’s 2024 Elite 8 loss to Iowa.

The picture shows Van Lith shrugging with Clark in the background on a night the Hawkeyes star dropped 41 on the Lady Tigers.

‘Haley is gonna have to shrug her shoulders a few times this season after playing Indy,’ one critic added, referring to the picture that has since become a popular meme.

‘Clark cooks them all and they all know it,’ another X user wrote. ‘HVL shouldnt (sic) have said that’

Hailey Van Lith and the Louisville Cardinals fell to Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in 2023

And in 2024, Van Lith’s LSU Lady Tigers were beaten by Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes 

Another critic claimed the ‘disrespect’ for Clark dates back to her ‘freshman year’ at Iowa. 

Many, many others predicted a few long nights for Van Lith against Clark in 2025.

‘CC about to drop a career high on HVL,’ one critic wrote.

Van Lith was the only participant to cut Clark, while others chose Taurasi, Ionescu, or simply refused to participate altogether. 

Clark famously did wrestler John Cena’s ‘You can’t see me’ hand gesture after scoring on Van Lith and the Cardinals in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. At the time, many thought she was directing the boastful celebration at Van Lith, who later claimed Clark’s gesture was actually aimed at Iowa’s strength coach as part of an inside joke.

However, at another point in that game, Clark did appear to tell Van Lith ‘you’re down 15 points, shut up.’

Clark finished with 41 points in that game compared to Van Lith’s 27 as the Hawkeyes beat the Cardinals, 97-83.

Van Lith averaged 15.2 points a game over a college career that began in Louisville and ended with TCU. She is now reunited with her former LSU teammate, Angel Reese, in Chicago.