Good news, boys and bulls. Ellie the Elephant is single.
The New York Liberty mascot shot down rumors that she was dating Las Vegas Aces mascot, BUCKET$, after a photo of them circulated on social media during 2026 WNBA All-Star weekend in Chicago.
“I try not to be messy or dig into peoples’ personal lives but this looks like [a] soft launch to me,” one user wrote via X alongside a tightly cropped photo of the two mascots posing together.
Ellie, 5, quoted the post, responding with, “Meanwhile this is a GROUP PHOTO . 💀. As for me, I’m single… idk about everybody else tho 🙃 🍵 😂.”
She followed that up with a zoomed-out version of the photo, showing she and BUCKET$, 8, were actually with several other mascots from around the league. Ellie did not address how it appears she and BUCKET$ are standing closer together than anyone else in the photo.
“Not buying this sister! All the great power couples denied it at first,” comedian Michelle Thomas wrote in response.
Ellie clapped right back, quoting Lauryn Hill’s song, “Ex-Factor.”
“Babes … When you find a picture of ME wrapped up, tied up, tangled up with anybody like exhibit A ^ then HOLLA at ya girl,” she wrote.
Regardless of her dating status, Ellie has the support of her Liberty teammates. Her rise to become one of the most popular mascots in sports came alongside the franchise’s reinvention. She joined the team in 2021, one year after the Liberty drafted Sabrina Ionescu No. 1 overall, and two years before the franchise signed former MVPs Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
As the Liberty started winning, going from the worst team in the league to WNBA champions, Ellie’s show-stopping performances began spreading beyond the team’s home arena in Brooklyn. Her dance moves, outfits and tunnel walks have been featured everywhere from ESPN to The New York Times, likely making her the most famous twerking elephant in the world, though Us was unable to confirm that.
Stewart, 31, gushed about the iconic mascot in a 2024 interview with SportsCenter.
“Ellie is a vibe and everybody knows that,” she said. “And if you don’t know Ellie, you gotta just look her up.”
Ionescu, 28, even released her Nike Sabrina 2 “By Big Ellie” sneakers in September 2024, complete with seafoam green elephant print on the sides.
“She just gets the crowd going,” Ionescu, 28, told The IX. “The crowd is talking about Ellie. Even on away games I hear the crowd be like ‘I just want to meet Ellie,’ and that’s just crazy. It’s a mascot but it’s a part of our team. People are excited when they hear her song come on. She’s dancing. She’s singing, she’s twisting her tail, she’s doing all this stuff. But to be able to see her come down and do like tunnel fit walks and just do everything. I mean, she’s more than a mascot. She’s a part of this team.”
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Liberty won their first WNBA championship in franchise history a month after the shoes came out.
