The last-place Connecticut Sun waived Hailey Van Lith on Thursday in order to clear space for French guard Leïla Lacan, but Van Lith won’t be away from the team for long. Van Lith, the No. 11 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, has rejoined the Sun on a developmental contract, the team announced Saturday.

Van Lith played in nine games with three starts for the Sun after being cut in the preseason by the Chicago Sky, who selected her with the No. 11 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. But after a 1-8 start, the Sun waived Van Lith to welcome back Lacan, the No. 10 pick in the 2024 Draft, who recently concluded her overseas commitments with Basket Landes, which she led to a championship in her native France. 

The 21-year-old Lacan averaged 10.4 points, 3.7 assists and 2.2 steals on 47.7% shooting in 26.6 minutes a game as a rookie and is already one of the WNBA’s best perimeter defenders. The Sun entered Saturday with a minus-17.6 net rating (no other team has a net rating worse than minus-6.0). Last season, the Sun had a minus-0.5 net rating in 665 minutes with Lacan on the floor and a minus-18.1 net rating in 500 minutes without her.

Van Lith, 24, was reportedly “grateful to the Sun for their transparency and the opportunity,” per ESPN. And despite other opportunities, she felt staying in Connecticut “was the best fit for her immediate development and long-term goals.”

What is a developmental contract?

The WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement did not expand the standard roster size, but it did create a new player development system. Each team now has two non-mandatory developmental roster spots that do not count toward the salary cap. Players are eligible to sign developmental contracts if they have fewer than four years of service or if they have fewer than six years of service and played between 1 and 160 minutes in the preceding regular season. They receive full benefits and are paid a small stipend, plus a bonus for each game in which they appear. However, players on developmental contracts can only play in 12 games per season. Once they reach 12 active games, the team must either convert them to a standard contract at the applicable minimum salary or release them. 

Whether the nine games Van Lith played this season with the Sun under a standard contract count toward that limit is unclear. The WNBA league office did not immediately respond when reached for clarification by 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)