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It's no secret that women's sports have gotten more eyes on the court, field, and mat than ever before. Specifically with women's basketball, with the help of emerging titans in the industry, such as Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Cavinder twins (Haley and Hanna), and so many more, these are some women that have gotten more eyes on women's basketball in recent years.
“In the beginning, obviously, there weren't as many eyes on women's basketball, but NIL kind of opened that up a little bit for women in sports in general,” Hanna Cavinder told ESPN. “It kind of blew up during Angel Reese's year and Caitlin Clark's year. It's completely changed, and it's going to continue to change and grow.”
The Cavinder twins have used their likeness to get deals with Boost Mobile, WWE, Dick's Sporting Goods, Under Armour, Champs Sports, and more.
The effects of student-athletes having their lives online
While there are obviously a lot of positives in inking deals with large corporations such as spreading your own likeness across their network, financial gain, and having more eyes on the sport, there are also some negatives that the athletes faced.
“We can always sit here and say, ‘Oh, we don't look at the comments,' but we're all human beings,” Hanna said. “Seeing something and then, obviously, you might start believing it yourself, is kind of just a hard process.”
Hanna's twin sister, Haley Caniver, who also plays for the University of Miami women's basketball team, chimed in on how she stays sane against the hatred that comes with online trolls.
“That just kind of comes with what you put on the internet,” Haley said. “At the end of the day, it just kind of made us have tougher skin and understand, ‘I can't look for approval from people that really don't know me.' I look at it as a business tool, my social media. How do I maximize and capitalize off of it in that way? Because that is a dark hole that social media brings, and that is hard at times, but also this is what helps us. This is our dream job.”
Angel Reese on changing women's basketball with Caitlin Clark
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Reese, who has scored her own NIL deals such as McDonald's, Coach, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, and more has showed that not only off the court that she has been making moves. Prior to being drafted to the Chicago Sky in 2024, the LSU alum was making a name for herself — and for women's basketball– through her rivalry with Caitlin Clark in college. Clark was drafted No. 1 to the Indiana Fever in 2024 after finishing her NCAA career at the University of Iowa. She spoke about how their competitive nature created a legacy for both of the athletes.
“I think it's just competition, it's been competition since college,” Reese said during the interview with Complex's Speedy Morman. “Being able to play against Caitlin, I've been playing against Caitlin since we were probably in eighth or ninth grade. We both were really competitive in AAU. I went to Maryland, she went to Iowa so we competed there and then finally being able to compete in the national championship. People don't know the legacy of us being able to play against each other for a really long time.”
Reese added about how the effects of social media can also trinkle down to the players.
“Obviously social media is going to put two women against each other,” Reese continued. “I think it's been something that's negative, but also positive. I think it shines light on women's basketball so I'll take that of being able to be the person that gets the hate but I know that at the end of the day I'm growing women's basketball and helping women's basketball.”
