The Tokomanawa Queens say luring WNBA player Hailey Van Lith to the Tauihi league will lead to other star imports choosing to play in the New Zealand women’s basketball league.
The Connecticut Sun guard is the team-mate of New Zealander Charlisse Leger-Walker, who revealed in late August that she will be joining the Tokomanawa Queens, following her debut season in the American basketball league.
Leger-Walker is just the second New Zealand woman to reach the WNBA and getting her signature to play in Aotearoa for the first time in six years was already seen as a bold move by the Wellington-based franchise.
But Saturday’s announcement that Van Lith, who was selected as the No. 11 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, will be playing in the 2026 Tauihi league would have been beyond the wildest dreams of bosses when they launched the competition four years ago.
Tokomanawa Queens general manager Walter Taulelei said no words could really describe it.
“It’s not like we haven’t had WNBA players here before but someone like Hailey, she’s a little different because she’s as big off the court as she is on the court,” Taulelei said.
“She’s got a very well curated portfolio of partnerships and endorsements that most athletes would dream of. And she’s also had a very, very high profile American college career, that those who follow basketball will know exactly who she is.”
Van Lith is the ninth most-followed WNBA player on Instagram, with 1.3m followers. Last week Van Lith had a busy New York Fashion Week between runway shows and speaking engagements.
“I think collectively across all social media platforms, she’s sitting at about 2.6 million and in this country, we’ve never had that, ever.”
Hailey Van Lith courtside.
Michael Hirschuber
Taulelei, who handles the recruitment for the Queens, said Van Lith will draw attention to the league when other elite players consider their off-season options.
“It’s going to open up conversations in the future and it’s not something I hope for, I know it will happen. People will start to ask questions about what is it like playing in New Zealand and then these women will talk about their experiences like they have in the past, but you’re talking about players who are at Hailey’s level.”
Taulelei said when planning started around what they wanted their roster to look like for 2026 , Australian Opals guard Kristy Wallace was central to that.
The Tokomanawa Queens held a spot for the 2025 Tauhi league MVP to return to the team but Wallace informed them in early September that she wouldn’t be able to commit while juggling a new career as a firefighter.
“So we had to pivot and to pivot you’ve got to make contact with certain agents and Hailey’s team were quite interested and intrigued by the New Zealand market.”
Despite being WNBA team-mates, Taulelei said Leger-Walker didn’t play a direct role in recruiting Van Lith, who won bronze with Team USA in women’s 3×3 basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I mean obviously athletes talk, they talk about where they’re heading to. If that piqued an interest with Hailey, I don’t know.
“But her management saw Charlisse’s Instagram video when she revealed she was joining the league and wanted to talk more about it. So it was about three weeks worth of conversations leading up to her announcement.”
Taulelei said Van Lith could play anywhere she wanted in the WNBA off-season in leagues in Europe and Asia.
“But what we were offering was something slightly different and her management team were quite keen to explore that.”
Charlisse Leger-Walker at the 2026 WNBA draft.
Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images
Van Lith had a challenging start to her professional career when she dealt with a serious ankle injury during her rookie season for Chicago Sky, and has been on short-term contracts at the Connecticut Sun.
“New Zealand is a bit of a bucket list destination to a lot of people, including athletes. But it was a bit more than that because the women’s game in America is changing and it’s adopting a style that appeals to a global market of players.
“So you have to appeal to FIBA [International Basketball Federation] style of play and those types of athletes from Europe and Asia and this part of the world have become more appealing to WNBA teams.
“But that also means that local players, those Americans have to adjust their way of playing and sometimes it takes a bit longer. For some, especially the younger ones are looking for opportunities where they can continue to advance their knowledge of how the game is played in other markets and Hailey is one of those players.
“She is known as one of the hardest working players in the gym so for a player like that she’s jumping into the challenge of trying to adapt the way that she plays to fit the new direction of a league.”
Walter and his wife Rachel Taulelei are also co-owners of the franchise.
Rachel Taulelei said Tauihi was building a reputation as a league that would enhance the careers of import players.
“It’s obviously a curiosity for people to come to New Zealand but equally they can improve their game. They can perfect elements of their game in what would ordinarily be their off-season and then take that back and put it into practice in other leagues.
“For example we had Korean national player Ji-Hoon Park the last two years. It was the first time she stepped out of Korea to come and play in the Queens – she’s now playing for the LA Sparks in the WNBA,” Rachel said.
Guard Hailey Van Lith of the Connecticut Sun.
ALI GRADISCHER
Walter Taulelei said players like Van Lith did not come to New Zealand for the money.
“Our market unfortunately is not attractive in terms of it’s low-end money with a very unfavourable exchange rate and for Americans, when they do the conversion, it’s not as appealing.
“But players tend to weigh up what else are they looking for and what we offered to try and help Hailey, it was more important than worrying about what she was going to be earning.”
The Queens have also recruited WNBA-experienced player Taylor Mikesell, who played for the Mainland Pouākai last season and Mimi Collins, who comes from a highly successful American college basketball career.
Walter Taulelei said there was a huge sense of excitement in the team when they secured Leger-Walker, who will be joining her older sister Krystal.
The 25-year-old was selected 18th overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft by Connecticut, where she has enjoyed a solid rookie campaign.
“The opportunity to play with Charlisse will be a highlight for all those girls’ careers. They are really excited that Charlisse is going to lead the team in the point guard role so she will control the tempo and the offense.”
Taulelei said he enjoyed sharing the news that Van Lith was also joining the team.
“We’ve got lots of amateurs that sit as role players on our bench. If you’d seen what it meant to them to have the opportunity to play with Hailey, you could see it written all over their faces.
“Taylor and Mimi have both played against Hailey and said that she is just relentless, that’s how they describe her, like that girl just doesn’t stop.”
Rachel Taulelei hopes the star power will appeal to sports fan, outside of the basketball faithful.
She said their home court in Porirua allowed people to get up close with the players and the game and they were trying to enhance the game-day experience for fans.
“We’ve got an exercise this year where we’re rolling out a big royal carpet between the Rapid League game and the Tauihi game at Te Rauparaha stadium where people can jump on and be right next to the players as they’re warming up. So we try to make it as immersive as possible.
“We gave ourselves one KPI [Key Performance Indicator] this year and that was bums on seats because one of the challenges that women’s sports has is getting people to come and see it live. It’s just a matter of lifting people out of their lounges and once they’re there, they become pretty converted,” Rachel said.
Leger-Walker and Van Lith will arrive in Wellington later this month when their WNBA commitments end and the pair will be ready to play the Queens’ second round game against Mainland Pouākai on 4 October.
The opening round of the 2026 Tauihi league starts on 25 September when Tauranga Whai host Northern Kāhu.