These ballers are changing the meaning of a bank shot.
Last season, identical twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, 21, put up impressive numbers for the Fresno State women’s basketball team. Haley led the team in rebounds, assists and points, with 19.8 per game, while Hanna was second on the team in all categories and averaged 14.5 a game.
But their stats off the court have been more notable. The 5-foot-6 guards, who boast 4 million TikTok followers and about a million Instagram followers between them, have notched some of the most lucrative deals since the NCAA launched its new name, image and likeness rules on July 1 of last year. The policy change, which allows college athletes to profit off their personal brand, was a seismic shift in the college sports landscape. It allowed athletes, particularly women, to see their bank accounts swell as large as their social-media followings.
“When NIL did pass, it surprised a lot of people that Hanna and I and other female athletes were leading the way,” Haley told The Post. “I think it shows that female athletes have as much power as male athletes and NIL has been the driving force.”
Darren Heitner, an attorney who works with the twins, confirmed that they’ve already earned more than $1 million.
They’ve built that eye-popping figure on deals from Boost Mobile, which erected a billboard of them in Times Square, WWE, Champs and Six Star Pro Nutrition, which teamed up with the sisters to give away jerseys in honor of Title IX’s 50th anniversary. They also have equity in apparel company Baseline, which was started by Fresno State alums.
The Arizona natives built a massive social following during COVID lockdowns when they started posting videos showcasing their hardwood chops, including tandem dribbling and sinking 3-pointers.
“If you’re twins and you can synchronize dribble, it’s all amazing,” Hanna told The Post, laughing. “It happened at the right time, when people were looking to connect with others. We were doing it for fun, and seeing NIL a few months later has been crazy for sure.”
The pair — who in April announced they were transferring to the University of Miami to give them a better shot of reaching the NCAA tournament — admit their notoriety has made them a target for trash-talkers.
“A lot of people like to let us know about it,” Haley said of their social-media popularity. “But we’ll see them on the court.”
“People forget that before COVID happened, and before we blew up on TikTok, we were just basketball players trying to get a college scholarship together and achieve our goals,” she continued. “Basketball has always been the main thing.”
The twins come from a family of five girls, and their father, Tom, played college hoops at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University.
“We are a very competitive family,” said Haley, who along with her sister is studying business. While they’re unsure of their long-term career plans, Hanna does offer up dream partnerships: Prada and, appropriately, the twin-piece candy bar Twix.
And while they are hard to tell apart, they do differ when it comes to one personality trait.
“Haley tends to be more of a people pleaser, and I am open and honest. Obviously that can be a good and bad thing,” said Hanna.
Chimed in Haley: “I’m more like, ‘Let’s read the room and not say everything that’s on our mind.’ And Hanna is more like, ‘Let’s say how it is.’ We balance each other out.”
Despite that, they never have a business disagreement.
“It’s super easy, since we are a package deal,” said Haley.
