The Rise of the Cavinder Twins: From College Athletes to Multi-Millionaires

In July 2021, the NCAA officially began allowing student-athletes to cash in on their fame and sell the rights to their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Two athletes that wasted no time taking advantage of the new opportunities were basketball superstars Haley and Hanna Cavinder.

The twin sisters — who played for Fresno State and the University of Miami — were leading figures in college sports endorsements in the last two seasons of their basketball careers, signing NIL deals with companies like Boost Mobile and WWE. Since then, Haley and Hanna have also garnered a large following on social media.

With that said, let's see how much the Cavinder twins' are worth!

In July 2022, Forbes reported that the Cavinder twins' have earned at least $2 million since the NCAA changed its NIL policy. While in college, the duo signed deals with a whopping 31 brands, including Six Star Pro Nutrition, Grammarly, Champs Sports, Gopuff, Under Armour, Crocs, and Victoria's Secret PINK.

The twins are also in their entrepreneur era, having co-founded a streetwear clothing company called Baseline Team with Fresno State alums David Vartanian and Mehdi Brahim. The brand's main focus is basketball shorts.

Now, we can't forget about their social media ventures! The wildly popular twins have a joint TikTok account with 4.5 million followers, a joint Instagram account with over 265,000 followers, and a YouTube channel with nearly 94,000 subscribers. Haley's respective Instagram account boasts 713,000 followers, while Hanna has 706,000 followers.

Although the Cavinder twins are accomplished athletes whose hard work helped them earn fame and fortune, some critics believe the sisters don't deserve their platform or status as multi-millionaires.

Victoria Jackson, a former professional runner, spoke with The Free Press in June 2023 and argued that the Cavinder twins are being showered with cash because of their "sexiness and attractiveness," which is "unfair" to other female athletes who are more skilled in their sports.

"You would notice that somebody would get a big deal when she was middling, at best, and happened to be good-looking, and a woman who was making Olympic teams and winning national championships was having a hard time getting shoe deals," she told the outlet.

Sports historian Louis Moore told The Free Press, "If you look at the NIL girls, the first ones who were getting deals were the blonde girls," noting the Cavinder twins for their "very blonde, girl-next-door looks."

The twins acknowledge that they're in a position of privilege: "I mean, obviously, yes, this is a touchy subject, but I think that we are privileged, in a way," Hanna told the outlet. "Obviously, we don't deal with the same things that other women deal with or other people deal with, and that's just how our world is, and it's awful."

Despite agreeing to do the article, the Cavinder twins have opened up about their disappointment with the final product. On June 13, 2023, Hanna took to Twitter and stated the Free Press piece "disregards our work ethic and dedication towards NIL and business endeavors."

Hanna continued, "[The reporter] fails to acknowledge the young girls/woman that follow us and that we work so hard to inspire. Instead, he degrades us down to 'hot girl(s).'

"We are both disappointed and disgusted by this journalism practice and blatant sexist trope," she wrote. "We only wish to inspire young women to chase their dreams, work hard, think big. Now we must also defend them against men that wish to sum their potential to physical appearance."