Potential Landing Spots for Hailey Van Lith After Sky Release Guard, Add Natasha Cloud

Also take a look at the Sky’s projected starting five for the 2026 season after these moves.

The Sky waived guard Hailey Van Lith ahead of the 2026 season. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Sky made some big moves on Monday ahead of the 2026 regular season tipping off this weekend.

For starters, the team announced that Hailey Van Lith was waived on Monday after just one season in Chicago. The TCU product was the 11th overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft, but now she will search for a new home in her second season. Chicago general manager Jeff Pagliocca told ESPN’s Kendra Andrews that there was a conflicting “style-of-play preference” between the guard and the Sky’s coaching staff, leading to the team’s decision to waive her.

Van Lith played in 29 games for the Sky last season, all off the bench, averaging 3.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists. These stats were significantly lower than what the college phenom recorded in her collegiate career. In her final season at TCU, for instance, Van Lith averaged 17.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.

Seemingly to replace Van Lith’s spot on the roster, the Sky turned around and signed veteran guard Natasha Cloud, who was arguably one of the top free agents left on the market. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal worth $555,000, per The Athletic’s Annie Costabile.

Starting 41 games with the Liberty last season, Cloud averaged 10.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per contest. She is a three-time all-defensive team member in her career, and she won a WNBA title with the Mystics in 2019. Cloud is also the reigning Skills Challenge champion from last year’s All-Star Weekend.

It’s a rebuild year for the Sky, that’s for sure. Chicago finished with a 10–34 record last season. The biggest offseason news for the organization was them trading Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream. We’ll see how the team adjusts to its new members this year.

Hailey Van Lith landing spots

After clearing waivers, another team cannot pick Van Lith up for 48 hours, which makes it a tight deadline for teams to add her by the May 7 turn-in date for rosters. ESPN’s Andrews noted that multiple teams are already interested in Van Lith. Although those teams are unknown at this time, here’s a list of teams who should be interested.

One team in need of a young guard is the Seattle Storm. The team just waived its 14th overall pick guard Taina Mair and now need help behind projected starting guards Natisha Hiedeman and Jordan Horston. Van Lith could be the answer.

In a wild turn of events, it would be interesting to see Van Lith follow her former teammate Reese to join the Atlanta Dream. The Dream already has star guards Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard starting, but Van Lith could be a useful backup to them. And, she already knows how to play with Reese, which is a big plus.

It would be awesome to see Van Lith land with either one of the two expansion teams, the Portland Fire or the Toronto Tempo. Specifically, the guard would be a better fit with the Fire as the new roster could use some help in the guard department. Even though Van Lith only has one WNBA year under her belt, she could provide some experience to the completely new team. She’d be starting on the same page as the rest of her teammates.

Sky’s projected starting five

The guard position seems loaded for the Sky right now after the team acquired Cloud on Monday. But, Cloud isn’t expected to earn the starting role right off the bat. The team already signed guard Skylar Diggins in free agency, and drafted UCLA standout Gabriela Jaquez. The Sky also traded for forward Rickea Jackson and signed forward Azurá Stevens in free agency. Here’s what the 2026 projected starting lineup looks like.

• Skylar Diggins
• DiJonai Carrington
• Rickea Jackson
• Azurá Stevens
• Kamilla Cardoso

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