\u201cI feel like now, with the money that I am getting, it\u2019s helping me with my goals in the future,\u201d Natisha Hiedeman, who signed<\/a> with the Seattle Storm in April on a two-year, $1.5 million contract, adds. \u201cIn the past, they maybe seemed far-fetched but now it\u2019s like, no, I could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n But practicality aside, what did they splurge on with their new salaries? Hiedeman bought a chain and Williams admits she may be spending some of her money on girls. \u201cMoney makes these women go. That\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI was kind of wondering how these NBA dudes was doing it, but now I completely understand.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a newer fan to the WNBA, you might think it\u2019s long been like this \u2014 a place where two gay, masc-of-center women can make millions playing ball, and be as outrageous as they are out. But in a league with a more heteronormative past than its current reputation might suggest, Williams and Hiedeman represent a new era of inclusion and authenticity \u2014 one they have helped build, one livestream at a time.<\/p>\n It\u2019d be a wildly impressive accomplishment by any standards \u2014 even more so when you consider they\u2019ve only been the StudBudz for a year.<\/p>\n In 2019, after initially being drafted to the Minnesota Lynx, a young rookie from Marquette University named Natisha Hiedeman eventually ended up on the Connecticut Sun. There, she met Courtney Williams, then in her fourth season in the W. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say it was one moment, but when she first got there, I invited her to my birthday,\u201d Williams recalls, when asked for her first impression of Hiedeman. \u201cShe was the only one I invited off the team. She\u2019s the only one I feel like can match the type of energy I\u2019m about to be on.\u201d<\/p>\n That night included a visit to Foxwoods Resort Casino. \u201cI just remember it was crazy because I went to her birthday party and then I got in trouble the next day,\u201d Hiedeman remembers. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want me to have no fun, I guess. I got in trouble the next day, but I ain\u2019t care because you know what? That\u2019s a memory. It\u2019s a core memory, eight years later.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe shouldn\u2019t have got in trouble,\u201d Williams opines today. \u201cEight years ago, the W was overly strict. It was just doing too much. What we did is a light night in the W now.\u201d<\/p>\n Immediately, the duo became friends. But it wasn\u2019t until they both signed with the Lynx in 2024, after Williams had done stints on the Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky, that they really \u201clocked in.\u201d Williams recalls their conversation when they found out they\u2019d be on the same team again: \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to really lean on each other because we\u2019re walking into a new environment, but we know we\u2019re gonna vibe, so we\u2019re just going to have to rock out together.\u201d<\/p>\n Once they got to Minneapolis, Hiedeman and Williams became best friends. It was there that the idea for the StudBudz was born \u2014 a way to feed a growing WNBA audience who was hungry for an uproarious, behind-the-scenes look at life in the league. While Williams came up with the idea to livestream, Hiedeman gets the credit for the StudBudz nickname, which centers the word \u201cstud,\u201d<\/a> a term used to refer to Black masculine-of-center lesbians and sapphics of all genders.<\/p>\n They started streaming virtually \u201cevery day but game day,\u201d Hiedeman tells me. They did live commentary for other teams\u2019 games, they sang karaoke, they talked shit. Often. They streamed \u201ceverything and anything.\u201d A subscriber goal led them to dye their hair pink \u2014 a decision that would come to define their aesthetic. \u201cCourtney was like, if we get so many subscribers, I\u2019ll dye my hair whatever color T\u2019s hair is, and then it was pink and then that kind of just became our thing,\u201d Hiedeman says.<\/p>\n But the lore goes deeper than that. Hiedeman\u2019s hair had only been shaved and dyed pink because of the sort of chaos they routinely get into together, even offstream. \u201cIt was such a hard day at practice,\u201d Hiedeman tells me of the day she went pink. \u201c[Head coach] Cheryl [Reeve] was on our asses. It was like the point guards couldn\u2019t do no right. I was gone. I didn\u2019t even take no extra shot, nothing. I just left.\u201d There was only one person to turn to. \u201cI called [Courtney]. I had the clippers to my head.\u201d And like any good friend, Williams was nothing but supportive.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the wrong person to call when you talk about cutting hair,\u201d Williams, who chopped all of her hair off while playing overseas in Australia in 2017 remembers. \u201cI said, \u2018Just do it and start fresh. We had a rough one. Just cut it off for the both of us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Hiedeman ran the clippers. \u201cIt felt great. I felt like a new individual with a breath of fresh air. But then it was just dark and short, it just wasn\u2019t giving, I don\u2019t know,\u201d she recounts. One thing led to another and the iconic pink hair came to be. Once Williams also dyed her hair pink, the look became synonymous with the StudBudz. Last year, the Minnesota Lynx gave away pink wigs to fans at their final regular season home game as an homage to the iconic duo.<\/p>\n \u201cIt flooded the whole arena,\u201d Hiedeman remembers. \u201cYeah, that was cold.\u201d<\/p>\n The moment felt like a kind of coronation. \u201cWe definitely cried. We just couldn\u2019t believe it. We was like, bro, we really popping it,\u201d Williams says. \u201cWe really finna do something.\u201d<\/p>\n The StudBudz have a funny way of making non-WNBA fans into WNBA fans, and of turning WNBA fans into WNBA superfans. Nothing demonstrates the sheer contagiousness of their friendship more than their marathon 2025 All-Star Weekend livestream in Indianapolis \u2014 a media event that unironically belongs in history books.<\/p>\n I must confess I watched at home on my computer every night, in absolute awe, unable to believe the kind of unvarnished and unprecedented access Williams and Hiedeman were offering. The StudBudz showed us Sydney Colson of the Las Vegas Aces grinding on fellow players, Cheryl Reeve getting down on the dance floor, and even WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert playfully yelling at them to \u201cbehave\u201d from her Uber as the pair rode their scooters through Indianapolis. And, of course, there was Hiedeman shamelessly flirting with Angel Reese, then playing on the Chicago Sky. It was probably the closest we\u2019d ever gotten to a WNBA reality TV show. I sent play-by-play updates to my friend Ashley while she was at a concert, and seconds after she got out of the show, she FaceTimed me so I could hold the phone up to my computer screen while she walked home. We did not want to miss a single thing. (It\u2019s not a coincidence that a few months later, Ashley and I would go on to start our own podcast<\/a> about the WNBA.)<\/p>\n The StudBudz racked up thousands and thousands of new followers that weekend. Hiedeman admits to telling Williams, \u201cThis might be the best weekend of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like every night it was a hit,\u201d Williams remembers. \u201cWe was turned up every night.\u201d Amid all the \u201cclub, bus, another club\u201d craziness, even Diplo showed up \u2014 and hilariously, the StudBudz did not recognize him<\/a>. But if you think they\u2019re going to tone it down at the 2026 All-Star Weekend in Chicago this July, now that they\u2019ve got followers and more lucrative contracts, you don\u2019t know the StudBudz. \u201cI want to party harder,\u201d Hiedeman says. For her part, Williams hopes they can recapture the same mayhem; she doesn\u2019t want anyone to try \u201cto duck the camera and be trying to act all shy and stuff like that.\u201d (I think I speak for every sapphic WNBA fan when I say I don\u2019t want that either.)<\/p>\n This is technically my third check-in with Williams and Hiedeman. The first time, a few short months after they started their channel, the StudBudz nearly brought me to tears laughing about memes, MySpace, and baddies, for our Search History<\/a> interview series. It was clear even then that they were the real deal: What you see with them is what you get. None of their dynamic was being faked for the livestream.<\/p>\n Then in December, when I travelled to Miami for Unrivaled \u2014 the new women\u2019s 3×3 basketball league, co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier \u2014 we met face to face. You might have seen the viral clips<\/a> of Hiedeman telling me all about \u201cShot Callin\u201d by YoungBoy Never Broke Again and \u201cPink Pony Club\u201d by Chappell Roan, or Williams confidently singing some off-key Olivia Dean.<\/p>\n This time, they\u2019re separated by distance, Hiedeman calling from Seattle where she has a view of Mt. Rainier from her apartment, and Williams calling from a rainy Minneapolis, where she still plays for the Lynx. They have recently marked the one-year anniversary of the StudBudz, and it\u2019s sinking in how much their lives have changed. \u201cWe did so much in a year. I ain\u2019t gonna lie,\u201d Williams tells me.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it\u2019s only been a year,\u201d Hiedeman adds. \u201cIt feels way longer than that.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, Williams is celebrating her 11th season in the WNBA. She got drafted in 2016 as the eighth overall pick by the Phoenix Mercury before eventually being traded to the Connecticut Sun where she played for four seasons and had her fateful first meeting with Hiedeman.<\/p>\n Many players report having a \u201cwelcome to the W moment\u201d \u2014 a story about realizing they weren\u2019t playing ball in school anymore. For Williams, that was having to guard Allie Quigley as a rookie. \u201cHer release was so fast and I\u2019m looking over at the coach like, \u2018Yo, what do you want me to do to guard this girl? I do not know how to guard this girl.\u2019 And there was no answer. I just kept getting killed.\u201d <\/p>\n As we discuss her long tenure in the league, I can\u2019t help but bring up her viral draft picture<\/a>, which shows a 21-year-old Williams all dolled up with a full face of makeup and long hair. \u201cWhen I first got to the league, it did feel kind of like, oh, you got to be that girly girl. You\u2019ve got to present yourself in a certain type of way to get the partnerships, to get the brand deals,\u201d Williams tells me. \u201cThey had to damn near brainwash me. Had me thinking I couldn\u2019t get drafted unless I was a bad bitch.\u201d But, let\u2019s make one thing clear: \u201cI was a baddie,\u201d she emphasizes.<\/p>\n Hiedeman joined the league in 2019. Her rude awakening? \u201cWhen BG [Brittney Griner] took my floater out of the air, literally. I thought I had so much time and space and she just grabbed it out the air. Didn\u2019t block it, just grabbed it.\u201d Hiedeman has been \u201cout since birth,\u201d she tells me, and the difference between her experience and Williams, although only separated by a few years, is noticeable. \u201cYeah, I didn\u2019t change much. I got a better haircut though,\u201d she jokes.<\/p>\n Although the WNBA has always had gay players and fans, progress on LGBTQ+ inclusion was frustratingly slow at first. Founded in 1996 \u2014 with its first game taking place in 1997 \u2014 the league didn\u2019t have its first publicly out gay player until 2002, when New York Liberty player Sue Wicks <\/a>came out in an interview. League-wide recognition of Pride did not begin until 2014. But something palpable has shifted in the 2020s. Many players, like Hiedeman, are out before they\u2019re even drafted. The WNBA will promote queer players with cheeky social media trends. Teammates are publicly dating<\/a> \u2014 and sometimes publicly breaking up. And the StudBudz exist. \u201cNow these folks can see me and T and be like, \u2018Man, I can come in the league with a fade and go get this money. I can have cornrows. I can like women.\u2019 You don\u2019t have to feel like you can\u2019t just be who you are,\u201d Williams says of their impact.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could just really be yourself. The WNBA is so inclusive. There\u2019s so many different types of people,\u201d Hiedeman adds.<\/p>\n It is surreal, when they zoom out, to think about how far the W has come, even since they began playing. Earlier this year, they attended the McDonald\u2019s All-American Game \u2014 an annual basketball competition for high-school seniors.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the players were saying, \u2018Oh, they call me Baby Bud,\u2019\u201d Williams says. \u201cAnd 1783163004 on national TV, you hear people saying \u2018the StudBudz\u2019 and it\u2019s like, man, how many white people ain\u2019t even know what a stud was?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really get more visible than that. The representation can\u2019t be on a bigger platform than the ones we\u2019ve been on. I definitely take pride in it. I want all the little studdies out there to know like, \u2018Hey man, y\u2019all can get it. Don\u2019t feel like you\u2019ve got to conform to nothing. You can really just be who you are and just be good at what you do and not have to worry about everything else. Just worry about being the best basketball player you could be.\u2019\u201d Hiedeman co-signs this statement with a big grin.<\/p>\n Although Williams and Hiedeman aren\u2019t playing on the same team anymore, their bond remains as strong as ever. They talk every single day. \u201cI text her about her games. I\u2019m her girl,\u201d Williams jokes. The StudBudz are here to stay. Thank God.<\/p>\n As our conversation comes to an end, I ask them what their favorite thing about each other is. Their love for each other is palpable even on screen with thousands of miles in between them.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite thing about my friend is that she is just the sweetest person ever. She is the type of person where it\u2019s like she just loves trees and nature and animals and recycling. If you just meet a genuine person that just loves humans and nature, it\u2019s her,\u201d Williams tells me of Hiedeman.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m crying,\u201d Hiedeman responds. \u201cMine about Courtney is when she cares about you, there\u2019s no length that she won\u2019t go to. The way she supports all her family, friends, everybody who she cares about. It made me do that more. She just got all her people\u2019s back. It\u2019s the loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n Credits<\/p>\n Photography Styling Fashion Talent Editorial Get the best of what\u2019s queer. Sign up for Them\u2019s weekly newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783163005_176_image.jpg\")
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Photographer: Bobby Rogers
Digital Technician: Aaron Rice
PA: Fadumo Ali<\/p>\n
Wardrobe Stylist: Clarke Imani
Assistant Stylist: Takeva Thomas<\/p>\n
Courtney Williams\u2019 Look: Khy Puffer Vest, Coach Denim, Coach Shoes, Prada Sunglasses
Natisha Hiedeman\u2019s Look: Wizzolx Tulip Jacket, Coach Tee, Coach Belt, Helmut Lang Pants, Loewe Sunglasses, Koolinxz Necklace<\/p>\n
Talent Coordinator: Tenzin Dekyi<\/p>\n
Managing Editor, Them: Samantha Allen
Audience Editor, Them: Ana Osorno
Graphic Designer: Mariusz Walus
Senior Vice President, Editorial, equalpride: Kayla Gagnet
Vice President, Audience & Digital Marketing, equalpride: Stephanie Williams<\/p>\n