Natisha Hiedeman, with her vibrant pink hair peeking out from under the blue hood, recounts the incident that marked the end of a game between the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm. A tense moment on the court, where passion and rivalry intertwine.
In the middle of the game, Kayla McBride of the Lynx committed a foul on Erica Wheeler. Frustration led McBride to throw the ball towards Wheeler, which provoked the reaction of Skylar Diggins of Seattle. Hiedeman intervened, exchanging words with Diggins. The situation, although brief, left a mark.
“I thought, ‘You know what? That little crush I thought I had… it’s over. It’s gone’”.
Natisha Hiedeman
Courtney Williams, with sunglasses and matching pink hair, reacted with laughter and enthusiasm. Together with Hiedeman, they celebrated the spontaneity of the moment.
This is the spirit of StudBudz: open, honest, black, gay, masculine, and loved. Always connected, always recording, always authentic.At the start of the season, Williams and Hiedeman launched their StudBudz accounts on Instagram and TikTok. The dynamic between the two moved to Twitch, where they streamed for 72 hours straight during the WNBA All-Star weekend. This digital marathon catapulted them to fame, even generating merchandise such as t-shirts with the phrase “Everyone sees StudBudz.” Napheesa Collier even wore a huge StudBudz chain on the bench during the August 21st game in Atlanta.
In a season that has seen the rise of the Lynx, and in a league that has recently embraced the diversity of its players’ identities, the StudBudz have become the biggest phenomenon in the WNBA.
The pink that invades everything
Pink is the color of the season. At the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Renee Agosto and her 13-year-old daughter, Bailey, are wearing pink wigs and Liberty t-shirts. “They’re authentic,” says Agosto. “I think that’s something incredible for girls to be inspired by. And their laughter is contagious.”
In the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, Darlene Cummings wears a StudBudz t-shirt and a pink wig to a Lynx game. “I fell in love with the StudBudz,” says Cummings. “I love how open they are.”At the Minnesota State Fair, Andrew Heller wears a Williams t-shirt as he walks around the fairgrounds. Although there are still some regular season games left, he already has plans. “I’m going to have to buy pink hair dye for the playoffs,” says Heller.
The Lynx gave away pink wigs for the last home game of the regular season. The stands at Target Center looked like they had been sprayed with “strawberry frosting” from t-shirt cannons.
Collier and McBride added pink streaks to their own hair. Even Hiedeman’s mother, Ann Gevaert, has caught the StudBudz fever. “People want to take pictures with me,” says Gevaert. “They say, ‘That’s Tee’s mom!'”. They have given her t-shirts with her daughter’s face and a “Stud Bud Mom” bracelet. She wears the bracelet to every game. “It’s a lot of fun,” says Gevaert.
The Path to Connection
The friendship between Williams and Hiedeman dates back to Connecticut in 2019. Williams arrived in 2016, after being selected eighth overall by the Mercury and traded to the Sun later that season. Three seasons later, she welcomed Hiedeman, selected 18th by the Lynx in 2019 and traded to the Sun on draft night. Williams invited the rookie to celebrate her 25th birthday that May. They had a lot in common: Neither came from big college basketball programs – Williams played at USF and Hiedeman at Marquette. Neither grew up in areas with a large basketball following – Williams is from Folkston, Georgia, with a population of less than 5,000. Hiedeman’s hometown is Green Bay, Wisconsin. Both call themselves “studs”, a term used to describe black, masculine, and queer women.
“She’s my baby, bro,” Williams says. “She came in as a rookie, trying to find her way. And we were immediately drawn to each other.”
Courtney Williams
They got together for a season in Connecticut in 2022, but their friendship blossomed in the last two seasons in Minnesota because, well, they have time to hang out. “We’re both single,” says Williams. “People laugh every time I say that, but the reality is that being single is the main reason we can be so close. Because the reality is that we know gay relationships. When you’re in a gay relationship, you’re with her every day. You’re in each other’s skin every day.”
If Williams were in a relationship, he wouldn’t get out of bed to go out with Hiedeman at 11:30 at night. They wouldn’t talk so much (it is known that they send messages and chat all day). “I’m on the phone with Tee more than with anyone,” says Williams.
They realized they couldn’t be the only people who enjoyed their chat. So, they turned on a camera and recorded themselves.Before launching their live broadcast, Williams and Hiedeman told their teammates their plans. To show their support, many Lynx players paraded through their hotel room and joined the first broadcast. There was a (bad?) freestyle to introduce McBride, and a dissection of whether Alanna Smith’s outfit sent gay or heterosexual signals (“She’s giving stud,” said Williams, a mix of “stud” and “femme”). There was a lively discussion about who on the team Collier would hypothetically let their daughter date.
After that tough practice and Hiedeman dyeing his hair, Williams told viewers of the broadcast that he would dye his hair to match if they reached 1,000 subscribers. The StudBudz were on a trip in Seattle when the number of subscribers exceeded the threshold. They had hair dye sent to their room and dyed Williams’ hair on the broadcast.
“I wanted to be a woman of my word,” says Williams. “So we had to order things to the hotel room and dye my hair, just Tee and me.”
Courtney Williams
“WE ARE FINE AS F—“, Williams tells me one day in August. “We’re putting it on. We have that vibe. We never lack any women.”
It’s not just the pink hair. Nor the sunglasses. Nor the baseball caps. Nor the hoodies. Nor the chains. It’s the aura.
Williams and Hiedeman habitually talk about “baddies” on the broadcast. They talk about what they look for in women. (Spoiler: Also, “baddies”). They broadcast a double date. For now, they remain single, much to the dismay of some fans.
In the Barclays Center, Charlotte McKinley clutched her handmade sign, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pink hair from her seat near the players’ tunnel. “Here 4 the Studbudz,” it read on her sign with a black marker on one side of the cardboard. She flipped it over to show the statement on the other side. “Down bad 4 Natisha Hiedeman.”
McKinley, 28, is a professional dancer in New York. She said she started getting interested in the WNBA about six months ago, but got serious about it in the last three months, in part, because of the StudBudz.
When Hiedeman started walking towards the tunnel and McKinley’s seat, McKinley waved his sign and shouted at Hiedeman. “I have a gift for you,” he said when Hiedeman got close enough.
McKinley reached into the deep “V” of his denim vest and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his bra. Inside was written his phone number.
Hiedeman put the piece of paper in his pocket, took a selfie with McKinley, and ran up the tunnel to the locker room. When he saw Collier, Hiedeman handed him the paper and told him that someone wanted him to have it.
Collier opened it and burst out laughing. “No, they didn’t,” he said.
Back in Minnesota a few days later, Hiedeman tells me she hasn’t sent McKinley any messages. “Right now I’m in my single era,” she says.
She smiles. “It’s not the first time.”The first Pride initiative in the WNBA didn’t occur until 2014. The first of its kind in American professional sports, the initiative highlighted the pressing need to serve LGBTQIA+ fans. The relationship between the WNBA and homosexuality among its fans and players has historically been tense. Early marketing campaigns emphasized femininity, whether or not it was authentic for the players being showcased, something Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have spoken about in recent years. In 2002, Lesbians for Liberty organized a kiss-in at a New York Liberty game to protest what they considered a lesbian erasure.
There were Pride nights before 2014 and there were also openly gay players before then, the first of whom was Sue Wicks in 2002. Three-time MVP Sheryl Swoopes shared that she was in a relationship with a woman in 2005 (although she has since identified differently), Seimone Augustus came out in 2012, Brittney Griner was openly gay even before being chosen number 1 in the 2013 draft. But in the last 10 years, superstars like Bird, Taurasi, Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray and many others have put the spotlight on the queer players in the league.
Even so, the WNBA’s fanbase has been served in its majority by conventionally feminine players, even among those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Another word for marketing is desirability. The queer spirit of the StudBudz inverts the assumptions about attraction for both fans and sponsors. Masculine women, they say, are also sexy.
Williams has pointed out missed opportunities before. When five WNBA players were featured in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition for the first time in 2022, the presentation of those five players was markedly feminine. “I love Sports Illustrated’s attempt to be more inclusive and amplify the women of the W,” Williams wrote on X. “At the same time, it would have been impactful to see a sleek sports bra and shorts. There is more than one way to look sexy, and I hope that in the future we can take advantage of that.”
It’s a feeling that coaches and other players share too.
“When I was in [the WNBA] the first time, there was a lot of attention on the success of the league,” says Reeve. “That translated into socially pretty players doing things that society in general considered marketable. So, you look at the queer players at that time having to be something they weren’t because they were told, ‘Well, if you don’t, then all of this can disappear.’ Seeing that we’ve evolved to a space where you can show up to work, be who you are, and be celebrated for it, I think is a special moment.”Natasha Cloud, guard for the Liberty, agrees.
When asked about the appeal of masculine women, she smiles and flexes her arms. “Mine is going to sell too,” she says.
“There are so many women screaming for us. The investment should be there. I just feel like the W is silly for not doing it, why don’t you want to get paid?”
The StudBudz have attracted some brands on their own. They recently dyed their hair “period red,” for an association with Kotex and managed to have fun with a topic that has traditionally been taboo. At one point, Williams is dead for Hiedeman’s technique to combat cramps: Lying in the shower. “Who does that? I’ve never heard of that,” she says. (Don’t worry. The red was, so to speak, cyclical. They’re now back to pink).
Williams sees his content as something that covers a need for some, and understands that StudBudz, despite the claim on their t-shirts, may not be for everyone.
“I think everyone can see how we vibe, how we talk to women. Because, first of all, have you ever seen that? You see all these “Love Island” and all these different things. But it’s like you rarely see, as you said, homosexual interactions. Maybe that’s not what you want to see, and that’s fine. You don’t have to watch that broadcast. Watch something else.”“GIRLS, YOU ARE INCREDIBLE,” says WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to Williams and Hiedeman during WNBA All-Star weekend in July. The StudBudz broadcast the entire weekend. Literally. And it’s impossible to look away.
There’s a moment between Diggins and Hiedeman when Diggins approaches to greet on the orange carpet. “What’s a Stud Bud?”, she jokes as she approaches them. Diggins and Hiedeman embrace, while Williams throws a look of complicity, due to, well, the crush heard around the internet.
The StudBudz dance with Reeve, throwing their arms over their coach’s shoulders, moving to the rhythm of the music. Reeve throws her head back and laughs. Coach and players, from different generations, and the three members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
They meet up with Clark.
“We’re live!” shouts Clark as he high-fives Williams on the broadcast.
“We’ve got Caitlin Clark in the building!” Williams shouts to the camera. Clark tells Williams and Hiedeman that she’s been watching the broadcast at home.
The moment starts a meme for the StudBudz who start joking that they will “call Caitlin Clark” whenever they need help with something, like getting into an Indy club.
Williams dances with Angel Reese, and I mean he dances.
And with “Knuck If You Buck” thumping in the background, the StudBudz dance with the WNBA commissioner.
“They pulled the curtain and showed that we’re all friends off the court,” Collier says. “We’re competitors on the court, that’s why it feels so fierce. But off the court, we’re all great.”
The All-Star weekend launches the StudBudz into a different stratosphere. According to Google Trends, the search interest for “StudBudz WNBA” in the United States increased by more than 5,000% in July compared to June. During All-Star week, the query “StudBudz merchandising” increased by more than 5,000% in search interest in the United States compared to the previous week.
Nothing of that would have happened without success in basketball as a base.“WE WANT to bring this organization back to where it has always been,” says Williams.
The Minnesota Lynx are among the most successful franchises in WNBA history. They won four championships in seven years: 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Those teams were anchored by a core of Hall of Fame members: Lindsay Whalen (2022), Seimone Augustus (2024), Maya Moore (2025), and Sylvia Fowles (2025). Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson, who was also part of those championship teams, are on the Lynx staff this season.
The Lynx returned to the WNBA Finals last year for the first time since they won the 2017 title, but fell in five games to the New York Liberty.
Williams is the starting point guard for the Lynx, who are the top seed, leading 1-0 in their semifinal series against the Phoenix Mercury. Hiedeman is their backup, but they often share the court. Game 2 is Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Minneapolis.
For the StudBudz, the Lynx’s championship legacy is important, and adding to it is their main goal.
Since the calendar changed to September, Hiedeman is averaging 14.8 points per game, including 18 in the Lynx’s Game 1 victory against the Golden State in the first round. Known primarily for scoring 3-pointers early in her career, Heideman is shooting 57.7% from inside the arc this season.
“Cheryl and them, created that culture and maintained it for years,” says Hiedeman. “Obviously, she wants the best players to play for her. But she also looks for the best people. When you do that, the culture is obviously going to be incredible.”
Natisha Hiedeman
Williams averages 6.2 assists, the second-best mark in the league. Many consider his “middy” to be the best in the game, but this season he is shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc with a career-high volume. He had 23 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals in Minnesota’s 82-69 victory in the first game against the Mercury.
“I think you see in my game now, how I’ve elevated my game from last year,” Williams says. “Even with Whalen coming in, and with that mix of her and Cheryl in my ear, it’s just elevated my game a lot, for sure.”
Both are fast and annoying defenders and average a total of two steals per game.
“Success on the court is what we’re all here for,” says Reeve.
“Courtney has established herself as one of the best point guards in this league. Without that, our franchise wouldn’t be where we are. We lost a key player from last year’s team bench, and Tee’s evolution has helped fill that void. The confidence and the things she’s giving us have been really vital to our success.”
That doesn’t mean the StudBudz haven’t presented some challenges to Reeve.
“I feel like my boundaries have been expanded,” says Reeve. “Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn’t. I know that sometimes I’ve been difficult for them, really trying to challenge them to get a little bit on my side. There’s a bit of give and take there because I think there are certain things that are needed to win a championship. Learning to coach those two and having them teach me a little along the way has been fun.”
Your commitment to the pursuit of the Minnesota championship has never been in doubt.
“It’s not something we’ve had to talk about or worry about,” Collier says. “When we’re together on the court, we focus on winning. We don’t focus on anything else.”
This season, the Lynx had the best record in the league, won the most games in franchise history, and secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. They swept the Valkyries in the first round.
If Minnesota wins the WNBA championship, get ready for a StudBudz party.
The camera will be on.
