When the Chicago Sky began training camp this past weekend, there was a familiar face on the roster, at least for Angel Reese. Hailey Van Lith, the Sky’s first round draft pick this year, was beginning her rookie year in the WNBA. Reese played with Van Lith for one season at LSU, and now that the pair is reunited in the league, Reese admitted that she has taken on a big sister-like role for Van Lith, as per ESPN.

“I know a lot of pressure is probably on her from the outside. I know how it is just being the big name coming to town expected to do big things,” Reese said. “Just being that ‘big sister’ I guess kind of to her this year is just super important for her.”

Angel Reese certainly had big expectations coming into her rookie season with the Sky last season. But she was able to exceed those expectations, and then some. Reese had the Sky in playoff contention until she suffered a season-ending wrist injury towards the tail end of the year.

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She appeared in 34 games last season, all starts, at a little over 32 minutes per game. She averaged 13.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 39.1 percent shooting from the field and 73.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Although her shooting percentage wasn’t very efficient, Reese was a double-double machine, set numerous records as a rookie and received one first place vote for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Coming into the 2025 WNBA season, Van Lith is no stranger to big expectations either. When she transferred to LSU to play alongside Reese, the expectations were high as the Tigers were coming off a national championship the year before. But things didn’t quite go as planned and Van Lith didn’t seem to fit in LSU’s system.

When Hailey Van Lith transferred to TCU the following year, she also managed to exceed expectations while raising her WNBA draft stock. The Sky currently have veteran and two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot at point guard ahead of Van Lith, but it’s possible that Van Lith and Reese, along with Kamilla Cardoso, form a strong young nucleus for the Sky in the future.