Hailey Van Lith and 6 fun facts about the basketball player
BATON ROUGE, La. (BVM) – LSU women’s basketball phenom Hailey Van Lith entered the NCAA transfer portal after deciding not to enter the 2024 WNBA Draft.
With a new team and fanbase in her future, learn more about Van Lith with these six lesser-known fun facts.
Hailey Van Lith once broke someone’s ankle
“My mentality is like, ‘I’m there to kill you,’ I’m not there to make friends,” Van Lith told SLAM. “I’m trying to run the ball down your throat the entire game.”
Van Lith can be so tough that she literally broke her own brother’s ankle once by “twisting him up.”
“My brother quit basketball because I literally broke his ankle and he was in a boot (in the seventh grade),” Van Lith told SLAM.
Hailey Van Lith loves to bake
“I’m like the team’s little baker… it’s something outside of basketball I really enjoy,” Van Lith told ESPN.
Van Lith even shared her grandmother’s recipe for her “world-famous and patented brownies” – shown below.
Hailey Van Lith is one of the smartest college athletes
Van Lith officially graduated within three years from the University of Louisville with her bachelor’s degree in finance. She graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors – which by the University’s standards means that she graduated with a 3.9 GPA or greater on a 4.0 scale. In other words, Van Lith graduated within the top 5% of her entire graduating class.
It’s not clear yet if she will graduate with a master’s degree as she transfers out of LSU.
Hailey Van Lith was noticed by Kobe Bryant
“(In high school) I was [playing in another country], and someone on the men’s team was a type of manager for Kobe,” Van Lith told Women Hooping. “He’s like, ‘Kobe wants to work out with you.’ And I was like, ‘Kobe doesn’t even know who I am.’”
Van Lith ultimately had the chance to work out with Bryant on a few occasions. Kobe not only wanted to help Van Lith, but he also wanted her to be an example of hard work for his daughter, Gigi.
Hailey Van Lith invests her NIL money
Van Lith’s NIL valuation is estimated at half a million dollars – with her most profitable NIL arrangement being her collaboration with Adidas. She generally keeps her NIL earnings private and refrains from flashing luxury cars, homes, etc. on social media.
“I have no expenses and I’m making this money through NIL,” Van Lith said on Life with Lisa. “It wouldn’t be smart of me to just sit on it. I think what I really [studied] finance for was to understand investments. We’re starting to build my investment plan.”
Hailey Van Lith’s workouts as a child were intense
“The craziest workout story I have is that my dad used to make me practice taking pitches (for softball),” Van Lith told ESPN. “I would stand in the batter’s box and he would just hit me with balls as hard as he could so I could practice taking pitches.”
Van Lith doesn’t recommend her former training regimen to up-and-coming athletes.
“Looking back on it, I probably wouldn’t do it again because it might have been a little crazy,” Van Lith told ESPN. “We would work out three to four times a day. Rent of the gym seven days a week. I’ve moved away from that now to save my body.”
