Haley Cavinder (born January 13, 2001) is an American

social media influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

and

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. Prior to Miami, she played for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

. Cavinder was an All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(MW) selection in each of her three seasons at Fresno State, and was named MW Player of the Year in her sophomore season. As a junior, she set the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

single-season

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

percentage record before transferring to Miami. Cavinder and her fraternal twin and teammate, Hanna, have a large

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

following and share a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

account with millions of followers. In the last three seasons of their basketball careers, they were leading figures in college sports endorsements, signing

name, image and likeness In college athletics in the United States, a student-athlete who participates in a varsity sport on any and all levels is eligible to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Historically, the National Association of Intercollegiate At ...

(NIL) deals with several companies, including

Boost Mobile DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, fourth largest wirele ...

and

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, and co-founding the clothing company Baseline Team.

Early life

Cavinder was born in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

, on January 13, 2001, one minute before and one pound (454 g) heavier than her twin sister, Hanna, to parents, Katie and Tom Cavinder. The family moved to the Phoenix area in the twins' early childhood. She started playing basketball before

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

and watched drills on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

to improve her skills. Cavinder competed in boys leagues until

sixth grade Sixth grade (also 6th grade or grade 6) is the sixth year of formal or compulsory education. Students in sixth grade are usually 11-12 years old. It is commonly the first or second grade of middle school or the last grade of elementary school, an ...

before playing against girls who were two to three years older than her. She also played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

before focusing on basketball in middle school. She emulated her game after

Skylar Diggins-Smith Skylar Kierra Diggins (born August 2, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Diggins was drafted third overall by the Tulsa Shock in the 2013 WNBA draft. I ...

High school career

Cavinder played for Gilbert High School in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Gilbert is home to 288,128 residents. It is the fifth-most populous municipality in Arizona and is considered a suburb of Phoenix. I ...

, alongside Hanna, and another sister, Brandi, who was two years ahead of them in school. The Cavinder twins were drawn there by coach Kyle Pedersen, who had trained them since they were in sixth grade and was their coach with Arizona Elite Basketball Club. As a freshman at Gilbert, Cavinder assumed a leading role along with Hanna, and helped the team reach the state quarterfinals. In her junior season, Cavinder averaged 23

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 9.2

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, 6.6 assists and 3.9 steals per game, leading Gilbert to the Class 6A state semifinals. She earned

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

honors at the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Tournament of Champions, an annual high school competition. As a senior, she averaged 21.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game, helping her team reach the Class 5A state title game. She was named Arizona 5A Player of the Year and finished with 2,282 career points.

College career

Fresno State

On February 1, 2020, Cavinder scored 31 points, a Fresno State single-game freshman record, along with six assists and five steals, in an 84–78 win against

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. As a freshman, she averaged 15.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Cavinder recorded the most points (512) and rebounds (233) by a freshman in program history. She was named

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

Freshman of the Year and to the All-Mountain West and All-Freshman Teams. Cavinder scored a sophomore season-high 30 points in a 78–70 win over

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

on January 14, 2021. As a sophomore, she averaged a conference-high 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game, leading Fresno State to the second round of the

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament. It used to feature both a preseason and postseason version played every year, but the preseason tournament was last held in 2023. It is operate ...

. Cavinder became the fastest Fresno State player to reach 1,000 career points. She was named Mountain West Player of the Year, becoming the third sophomore to win the award. She earned All-Mountain West honors for a second straight season. As a junior in 2021–22, Cavinder led the Bulldogs in scoring (19.8 per game), rebounding (9.4), and assists (5.8) on her way to her third straight All-Mountain West selection. She also had three

triple-doubles In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

, second in

to Iowa's

Caitlin Clark Caitlin Elizabeth Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Regarded as one of the greatest female collegiate players, Clark was tw ...

and the most all-time by a Fresno State player. Cavinder set a new Division I single-season record for free throw percentage, with 97.3%.

Miami (FL)

Following the season, the Cavinder twins entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

and eventually announced on April 21, 2022, that they would transfer to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. Both twins had two years of remaining athletic eligibility at the time of their transfer, because the NCAA did not count the 2020–21 season, extensively disrupted by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, against the eligibility of any basketball player. On February 9, 2023, Cavinder scored a career-high 33 points, shooting 7-of-10 from three-point range, in an 86–82 win over 19th-ranked

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

. She was named second-team All-

. Cavinder helped Miami reach its first Elite Eight at the 2023 NCAA tournament. As a senior, she averaged 12.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Shortly after the end of the 2022–23 season, the twins announced that they would end their college basketball careers, choosing not to take advantage of their extra year of eligibility. Their agent later told ''

TheStreet ''TheStreet'' is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus, a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed b ...

'' that they would begin

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

training at the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

later that spring.

TCU

On October 13, 2023, Cavinder came out of retirement and entered the transfer portal, intending to play her fifth and final season in 2024–25 without Hanna. One month later, she committed to

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

Return to Miami (FL)

On April 24, 2024, Cavinder de-committed from TCU and opted to instead return to the

alongside her sister Hanna for the 2024–25 season. For the week of November 11–17, Cavinder was named

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week for averaging 21.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the field, but not conference player of the week. At the December 20–21 Maui Classic Cavinder posted her third and fourth

double-doubles In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

of the season against

and

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

, earning tournament MVP and leading her team to a championship with 22.5 points on 57.6 percent shooting (19-for-33), 12.0 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. The performance earned her ACC player of the week honors. Following a regular season in which she scored at least 10 points in 27 of 29 games (including three 30-point performances) and recorded 7 double doubles (including four consecutive), Cavinder finished 16th in the all-ACC voting just missing the 15-person first team recognition and earning a second consecutive second team honor.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, 32, , 31, , 34.3, , 38.5, , 34.3, , 68.1, , 7.3, , 3.7, , 1.5, , 0.2, , 2.4, , 16.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 28, , 27, , 36.6, , 42.6, , 32.8, , 84.6, , 7.5, , 3.8, , 1.7, , 0.5, , 2.5, , 19.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 29, , 29, , 38.1, , 44.6, , 37.3, , bgcolor=#cfecec, 97.3*, , 9.4, , 5.7, , 1.5, , 0.1, , 2.9, , 19.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, 35, , 35, , 30.9, , 40.7, , 40.4, , 87.8, , 4.9, , 2.5, , 0.7, , 0.1, , 1.6, , 12.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 124, , 122, , 34.8, , 41.6, , 35.9, , 85.9, , 7.2, , 3.8, , 1.3, , 0.2, , 2.3, , 16.7

Social media and endorsements

Cavinder has established a large

following with Hanna. In April 2020, while bored at home during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, she was persuaded by Hanna, who used

, to make videos together on a shared account on the platform. The videos feature Cavinder and her sister performing synchronized dances, dribbling and

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

ing side-by-side. By April 2022, the twins had four million followers on TikTok. The Cavinder twins have made national headlines for their success with college sports endorsements and are among the most prominent college athletes in the field. On July 1, 2021, after the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

began allowing student-athletes to be compensated for the use of their

(NIL), the twins signed deals with

within minutes of it being permitted. On December 8, 2021, they signed with

promotion

as part of its new Next In Line program to develop college athletes into potential WWE wrestlers. On January 18, 2022, the twins announced that they had co-founded the streetwear clothing startup Baseline Team. They were given 25 percent equity stake in the company and one of three seats on the board of directors. The twins have also signed NIL deals with

Champs Sports Champs Sports is an American sports retail Chain store, store, operating as a subsidiary of Foot Locker. Products sold at Champs Sports include apparel, Sports equipment, equipment, footwear, and accessories. As of June 2019, there were 540 store ...

Eastbay Eastbay was an American supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, selling through direct mail and the internet. In 1997, it became a subsidiary of the F. W. Woolworth Company, later known as Foot Locker, Inc. History Th ...

, Gopuff and

SoFi SoFi Technologies, Inc. (abbreviated as SoFi) is an American personal finance and financial technology company. Founded in 2011 at Stanford University, it operates as a direct bank and provides its technology platform to other financial institu ...

, among other companies. In July 2022, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' estimated that they had earned $1.7 million in endorsement deals. By November 2022, they had over 40 deals, more than any other women's basketball players at any level. The twins also started a podcast, ''Twin Talk'', in December 2022 on

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

that initially focuses on student-athletes' perspectives on NIL; the twins' first official guest was LSU gymnast and leading NIL figure

Olivia Dunne Olivia Paige Dunne (born October 1, 2002) is an American influencer and former artistic gymnast. She is also a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and former member of the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics team. In 20 ...

. In early 2023, the twins were involved in the first known NCAA sanctions case related to NIL opportunities. On February 24, the Miami women's basketball program was placed on a year of probation and received other minor penalties; the twins received no direct sanctions. The NCAA found that the program and its head coach

Katie Meier Katie Meier (born December 19, 1967) is a former college basketball coach who last coached the women's basketball team at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She is a 1990 graduate of Duke University, where she played college bask ...

had violated NCAA rules by facilitating a meeting between the Cavinders and Miami-based businessman John Ruiz, a Miami alumnus and booster who has signed over 100 Hurricanes athletes in various sports to NIL deals, before they officially committed to transferring to the school. In December 2024, the twins were named to the ''

'' 30 Under 30 list for their social media leadership.

Personal life

Hanna has four sisters: eldest sister Brooke, next oldest Brandi, twin Hanna, and younger sister Natalie. Brandi was two classes ahead of the twins in high school and Natalie was one behind. Her height is 5 ft 6 in. Cavinder has been in a relationship with

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

Jake Ferguson Jonathan Quinn "Jake" Ferguson (born January 18, 1999) is an American professional football tight end for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Cowb ...

since 2023 and the pair announced their engagement in April 2025.

References

External links

Fresno State Bulldogs bio

Miami Hurricanes bio

@

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

stats
@

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

NIL valuation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavinder, Haley 2001 births Living people American TikTokers American sports podcasters American women podcasters American women's basketball players Basketball players from Arizona Basketball players from South Bend, Indiana Fresno State Bulldogs women's basketball players Miami Hurricanes women's basketball players Sportspeople from Gilbert, Arizona Point guards American twins 21st-century American sportswomen