Before Hailey Van Lith played for LSU — before she saw her role change or her scoring numbers dip or her WNBA draft stock fall — she had her sights set on the 2024 Olympics.
Van Lith wanted to compete. It was a goal she accomplished in June, when USA Basketball awarded her one of four spots on the 3x3 women’s team it will send to Paris. Her rocky year at LSU didn’t affect her chances at making the squad: while selecting players, Team USA evaluators considered only their prior international experience and their performance in an April training camp.
So after spending her whole senior season outside her comfort zone, adjusting to a new position, Van Lith — who transferred to TCU this offseason — will soon play in a competition that her game is built for. The Olympics’ 3x3 basketball games begin July 30, with medal games starting Aug. 5. She’s one of more than 30 athletes with Louisiana ties set to compete in the Games.
Last year, Van Lith helped Team USA win gold at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Austria.
“I think it fits her perfectly for her game and the way she plays,” said Brent Darnell, Van Lith’s high school coach. “Because she is a dominant one-on-one player. I think that’s Hailey’s game: taking somebody off the dribble and getting to the rim.”
In 3x3 basketball, teams play on only half a court — with just a 12-second shot clock and a 10-minute game clock. Play is continuous, which means that before players can initiate a possession following a made basket, rebound or steal, they must first bring the ball outside the arc. A shot inside the arc is worth one point, and a shot outside it is worth two. The first team to score 21 points wins.
Because there’s only six players on the court at once, offenses can enjoy extra space. Defenses, however, cannot. They have more ground to cover, so they’re less likely to send help defenders. As a result, players who know how to play one-on-one are more likely to succeed in 3x3 basketball.
Van Lith falls into that group. The 3x3 game both rewards her strengths — attacking downhill and hitting off-the-dribble jumpers — and satisfies her desire to round out the rougher edges of her game. In 3x3, there’s nowhere to hide your deficiencies, on either offense or defense.
“If you can't score, it's gonna show,” Van Lith told The Advocate in August. “If you can't play defense, it's gonna show. Any weakness in your game, at some point, it's gonna be to the fault of your team.
“Sometimes I get switched on to the five. Sometimes I have to guard a small point guard. I have to guard all varieties of skill levels and sizes and shapes. And getting that experience and that rep and learning how to be better and how to use my hands very effectively was another major (reason).”
In June, USA Basketball shared a video of Van Lith learning that she had made the Olympic team. In the clip, Team USA 3x3 National Team Director Jay Demings gives her the news, and Van Lith immediately bursts into tears, covering her face and choking back sobs as reality sinks in.
Before the video was posted, Van Lith gave Darnell a quick phone call. She told him that she had made the Olympic team and thanked him for helping her do it. Darnell then hung up and started bouncing the news around Cashmere, Washington, the small, tight-knit northwestern town where she grew up.
“I thought that was pretty special of her to think of me in that moment, as big as it was,” Darnell said. “So a pretty special girl that didn’t need to call her old high school coach.”
Less than two weeks later, the 3x3 team received a different kind of news: its anchor, star forward Cameron Brink, had torn the ACL in her left knee while playing for the Los Angeles Sparks. USA Basketball tabbed Dearica Hamby, a nine-year WNBA veteran forward, as Brink’s replacement. She’ll now compete alongside Van Lith, Rhyne Howard and Cierra Burdick.
For Van Lith, the injury to Brink is just another challenge in a year full of them.
So her quest for an Olympic gold medal hinges on her ability to adapt and adjust. This time, her game may be tailor-made to take on added responsibilities.
“It's just a completely different style of basketball,” Van Lith said. “It brings me a ton of joy. I really enjoy doing it. It's fun. It makes me better. It's the best player development that you could ask for.”