Cavinder and her fraternal twin and teammate, Hanna, have a large social media following and share a TikTok 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 (NIL) deals with several companies, including Boost Mobile and WWE, and co-founding the clothing company Baseline Team.
Early life
Cavinder was born in South Bend, Indiana,[1] on January 13, 2001,[2] one minute before and one pound (454 g) heavier than her twin sister, Hanna, to parents, Katie and Tom Cavinder.[3] The family moved to the Phoenix area in the twins' early childhood.[3] She started playing basketball before preschool and watched drills on YouTube to improve her skills. Cavinder competed in boys leagues until sixth grade before playing against girls who were two to three years older than her.[4] She also played soccer and volleyball before focusing on basketball in middle school. She emulated her game after Skylar Diggins-Smith.[5]
High school career
Cavinder played for Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona, 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,[6] and helped the team reach the state quarterfinals.[7] In her junior season, Cavinder averaged 23 points, 9.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 3.9 steals per game,[8] leading Gilbert to the Class 6A state semifinals.[9] She earned most valuable player honors at the Nike Tournament of Champions, an annual high school competition.[10] 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.[1]
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.[11] 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.[1] She was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year and to the All-Mountain West and All-Freshman Teams.[12]
Cavinder scored a sophomore season-high 30 points in a 78–70 win over Nevada on January 14, 2021.[13] As a sophomore, she averaged a conference-high 19.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game,[1] leading Fresno State to the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.[14] Cavinder became the fastest Fresno State player to reach 1,000 career points.[15] She was named Mountain West Player of the Year, becoming the third sophomore to win the award.[16] She earned All-Mountain West honors for a second straight season.[1]
As a junior in 2021–22, Cavinder led the Bulldogs in scoring (19.8 per game), rebounding (9.4), and assists (5.8)[17] on her way to her third straight All-Mountain West selection.[18] She also had three triple-doubles, second in NCAA Division I to Iowa'sCaitlin Clark and the most all-time by a Fresno State player.[19][20] Cavinder set a new Division I single-season record for free throw percentage, with 97.3%.[21]
Miami (Florida)
Following the season, the Cavinder twins entered the NCAA transfer portal and eventually announced on April 21, 2022, that they would transfer to the University of Miami. 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, against the eligibility of any basketball player.[22][23]
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.[24] She was named second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference.[25] 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.[26]
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.[27] Their agent later told TheStreet that they would begin professional wrestling training at the WWE Performance Center later that spring.[28]
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.[29] One month later, she committed to TCU.[26]
Return to Miami (Florida)
On April 24, 2024, Cavinder de-committed from TCU and opted to instead return to the University of Miami alongside her sister Hanna for the 2024–25 season.[30] For the week of November 11–17, Cavinder was named USBWA 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,[31] but not conference player of the week.[32] At the December 20–21 Maui Classic Cavinder posted her third and fourth double-doubles of the season against Nevada and Oregon State, 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.[33][34]
Cavinder (foreground) and her twin sister Hanna (background) playing for Gilbert High School in 2018
Cavinder has established a large social media following with Hanna. In April 2020, while bored at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, she was persuaded by Hanna, who used TikTok, to make videos together on a shared account on the platform. The videos feature Cavinder and her sister performing synchronized dances, dribbling and lip syncing side-by-side.[36] By April 2022, the twins had four million followers on TikTok.[37]
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.[36][38] On July 1, 2021, after the NCAA began allowing student-athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the twins signed deals with Boost Mobile within minutes of it being permitted.[39] On December 8, 2021, they signed with professional wrestling promotion WWE as part of its new Next In Line program to develop college athletes into potential WWE wrestlers.[40] 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.[41] The twins have also signed NIL deals with Champs Sports, Eastbay, Gopuff and SoFi, among other companies.[38][42] In July 2022, Forbes estimated that they had earned $1.7 million in endorsement deals.[43] 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 that initially focuses on student-athletes' perspectives on NIL; the twins' first official guest was LSU gymnast and leading NIL figure Olivia Dunne.[3]
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 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.[44]
In December 2024, the twins were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for their social media leadership.[45]
