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Hailey Van Lith Has One Word to Describe Rapport With New WNBA Teammate Angel Reese

Van Lith and Reese will team up on the Chicago Sky.
LSU Lady Tigers forward Reese and guard Van Lith take questions from the media during the 2024 NCAA tournament.
LSU Lady Tigers forward Reese and guard Van Lith take questions from the media during the 2024 NCAA tournament. | Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Hailey Van Lith and Angel Reese are teammates once again—this time in the WNBA with the Chicago Sky. The two played together at LSU during the 2023–24 season, which was Reese's last college season, while Van Lith transferred to TCU for her final year of eligibility.

The Sky took Reese with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft and she dominated her rookie season, resulting in an All-Star appearance and the league's rebounding record. Van Lith led TCU to the Elite Eight, the deepest tournament run in program history.

In Monday night's 2025 WNBA draft, Chicago reunited the former teammates, selecting Van Lith with the No. 11 pick. Reese was immediately hyped to link up in the W.

Shortly after Van Lith was picked, she spoke to reporters about her newest teammate who she knows so well. And she had one word to describe Reese: dawg.

"I think we have a lot of similarities about how we carry ourselves and our mindset about what's important to us," Van Lith said when asked about Reese in a press conference Monday night via USA Today's Meghan L. Hall.

"She's a dawg, man. She turns up the intensity of everybody around her so I'm excited to be in that environment with her again where she can pull more out of me than I think I have."

Van Lith's immediate role with the Sky is unknown, but she'll likely learn under veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who Chicago signed during free agency. Nevertheless, Van Lith and Reese reuniting at the professional level gives the Sky an exciting potential pick-and-roll duo for the future.


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Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a writer at Sports Illustrated, primarily covering the NBA and WNBA. Before joining SI in November 2024 as a breaking/trending news writer, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation and A10Talk. He’s an alum of both Michigan State and St. Bonaventure University, receiving a master’s degree from the Bonnies’ sports journalism program. Outside of work, he’s a husband, father, yogi and fairly mediocre tennis player who’s open to any tips on how to play defense in EA Sports College Football.