Instagram Offseasons
What did the WNBA get up to?
A couple of disclaimers before we begin:
I, better than most, understand that Instagram is not the best reflection of real life. I’ve had Instagram since 2011. I have posted 17 times.1 I have done more than 17 things in the last 14 years. So, I understand that just because a player didn’t post from the gym all offseason doesn’t mean she didn’t work out.
I also understand that I probably should have looked at TikTok instead, but I’m on the other side of 30 now and don’t have a TikTok and don’t want one.
So Instagram it is. I went through 1,676 individual Instagram posts2 across the accounts of 65 WNBA starters from the offseason (10/21/24 - 5/16/25), and bucketed each into 1 of 17 categories. Sure, one post could have multiple photos across categories and even one photo could cross genres - a sponsored post showing a player working out for instance - I used my best judgement. This isn’t an exact science. It’s me spending too much time on Instagram.
Without further ado, here are the players with the most offseason Instagram posts:
Amazingly, Breanna Stewart did not lead the league in any of the 45 stats Basketball Reference tracks last year, but she tops this list, with 86 posts during the 208 days of the offseason. That’s one every day and a half. Her most common posts were ads for the brands she reps (sponsored content, or SponCon), but her posts were relatively evenly split across categories. She had the most posts featuring family and friends (F&F), a great way to spend the offseason in my opinion. She also had the most posts from a WNBA championship parade, another great way to spend a day off.
A’ja Wilson topped Stewie for the most SponCon posts, but half of those were promoting her new A’One shoe.
Natasha Howard posted far-and-away the most basketball content. Her page features 28 clips of her playing for her international team, and 22 showing her excitement to be going back to the Indiana Fever, the team that drafted her over a decade ago.
Jewell Lyod and Satou Sabally have the most training posts. They’ll both want to make good first impressions on their new teams and fan bases after being involved in major February trades.
Sabally also had a lot of fashion posts, but was topped in that category by Angel Reese who posted 30 different times to show off her fit. That includes a few from the Met Gala (casual) and lots of Unrivaled tunnel fits.3
Here’s how all of these posts sum up by team:
Who’s seeing these posts? Lots of people. Here is how the Instagram audience breaks out across teams:
Sky forward Angel Reese dominates the Insta game. She has as many followers as the entire Aces and Liberty starting fives combined (yes, that includes A’ja Wilson, Jewell Lyod, Sabrina Ionescu, and Breanna Stewart).
Caitlin Clark is second at 3.1M followers, but surprisingly posted just 16 times this offseason, including 5 sponsored posts (for Gatorade and Nike) and 3 playing golf. She did have the coolest post of the offseason however:
Finally, a couple of personal faves I want to shout out:
While she wasn’t a top poster in the league in terms of quantity, Stefanie Dolson may be my favorite new follow. Seems like a great hang:
And Lindsay Allen is my hero. She is the only starter in the WNBA to not post once in the last 5 months. #touchgrass
I’ve posted more times on Charting Hoops in the last 4 months than on my personal Instagram account ever.
My screen time does not look great this week …
Hilariously, the Chicago Sky’s tunnel fits are now sponsored by Red Lobster.
