WNBA All-Star Kelsey Plum and NFL tight end Darren Waller got married — almost in secret — to form one of the most impressive power couples in sports.
Kelsey Plum is a WNBA All-Star guard who won the 2022 championship with the Las Vegas Aces.
Darren Waller is an NFL tight end and 2020 Pro Bowler who plays for the New York Giants.
The power couple married on March 4, 2023 — here's how they make and spend their money.
Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller are two of the most talented athletes in American professional sports.
The all-time leading scorer in Division I women's college basketball history, Plum has become a WNBA superstar and helped lead the Las Vegas Aces to their first-ever championship during the 2022 season. Waller, meanwhile, enjoyed a standout career as Georgia Tech's leading wide receiver before becoming one of the top tight ends in the NFL.
The pair of superstars got married — almost in secret — on March 4, 2023, officially forming one of the most notable young power couples in all of sports. And with all that talent has come plenty of compensation.
Here's how the duo makes and spends their millions:
Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller are one of the most powerful young couples in professional sports — and you may not have even known they were together.
Kelsey Plum (left) and Darren Waller.
AP Photo/Darryl Webb; AP Photo/John Locher
Plum is a star guard in the WNBA. Five years after the San Antonio Stars selected the prolific scorer with the first overall pick of that year's WNBA Draft, Plum helped the franchise — now known as the Las Vegas Aces — win their first-ever championship.
Waller, meanwhile, is one of the most talented tight ends in the entire NFL. First drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2015, the 6-foot-6 star played three years in Maryland before joining the Oakland-turned-Las Vegas Raiders. He's now a member of the New York Giants.
The superstars were rumored to have started dating in 2022, though Waller was spotted attending Plum's games with the Aces as far back as 2021.
Darren Waller (center) attends a Las Vegas Aces game in September 2021 alongside some of his Raiders teammates.
AP Photo/Steve Marcus
Plum and Waller presumably met at some point after the Raiders relocated to Las Vegas, though it's not public knowledge at this point.
The couple has kept much of their relationship under wraps. As late as a few weeks before their wedding, the pair were not officially confirmed to be romantically involved.
They've only made a handful of public appearances over the course of their relationship.
Plum threw out the first pitch that night at Petco Park. Her hometown team beat the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the National League Division Series.
But it was unconfirmed whether the duo were just friends or something more — until a third party spilled the beans.
Darren Waller hugs Kelsey Plum after a Las Vegas Aces game.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Though many suspected that Plum and Waller were dating by the time 2023 came around, the duo had not confirmed their relationship publicly. Very few people beyond their close friends and family knew they were planning a wedding — one they had no intention of telling fans about until well after they said "I do."
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels accidentally leaked their wedding details — the date, city, and the fact that it was taking place at all — to the press during the NFL Scouting Combine.
Josh McDaniels speaks with reporters during a news conference.
Plum and Waller said "I do" in the idyllic, woodsy setting of GreenGale Farms in Las Vegas. They partied with family and friends before jetting off to the tropics for their honeymoon.
The two seemed destined to live happily ever after as the King and Queen of Las Vegas, but their plans changed when the Raiders traded Waller to the New York Giants.
A mere 10 days after he and Plum officially became husband and wife, Waller was shipped across the country to join Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
"I did not see this coming," Waller said in his introductory press conference with the Giants. "I was getting ready to just do everything I could to make myself available for the Raiders and get ready for everything that was going to start in mid-April."
"It caught me off guard, but it's the nature of the business," he added.
When former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III joked on Twitter that McDaniels "is NOT a romantic" for making the trade right after Waller got hitched, Plum replied in jest that the move stemmed from the fact that the coach "wasn't invited to the wedding lol."
Plum and Waller are "going to do whatever it takes to remain strong together" despite their careers taking them to opposite coasts.
"She supports me and wants to see me shine to my ultimate potential as a player while I still have the opportunity, so I'm grateful to have her support," he said. "And we're going to do whatever it takes to remain strong together, whatever the distance looks like, the timing of it."
"I'm grateful to have somebody that understands how things work in an industry like this, and we just go forward and make the best of it what we can," he added.
Fortunately for the newlyweds, the WNBA and NFL seasons don't take place at exactly the same time.
Kelsey Plum poses with her WNBA "Sixth Woman of the Year" award.
AP Photo/David Becker
Plum will be expected to report to Las Vegas to rejoin the reigning champions at the end of April, with the WNBA regular season tipping off in mid-May and extending into the fall.
Waller, meanwhile, will have until the end of July before he's expected in New York for training camp. His season will run through the new year and, should the Giants make the playoffs, could stretch all the way to February.
But with millions of dollars in combined annual salary, the pair should have no problem affording plane tickets for the times they aren't able to reside together.
Darren Waller.
Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
Plus, the Giants will head out to Las Vegas to face Waller's former team, the Raiders, at some point during the 2023 season. And Plum and her Aces will head to Brooklyn to face the new-look New York Liberty on two separate occasions in August.
Waller became one of the highest-paid tight ends in the NFL after signing a three-year, $51 million deal with the Raiders in September 2022.
Darren Waller reacts during a game against the Denver Broncos.
AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
The massive contract gave Waller $17 million in average annual salary, but he brings in additional income through several ventures tangential to and outside of his football career.
He also makes a considerable amount of money through endorsement deals with a slew of companies.
And as the great-grandson of jazz legend Fats Waller, the football star has a foot in the music industry, too.
Jazz legend Fats Waller is Darren Waller's great grandfather.
Bettmann/Getty Images
With a great-grandfather who pioneered modern jazz — and composed two Grammy Hall of Fame songs in "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose" — Waller was destined to find a foothold in music, too. The tight end doubles as a music producer, though, unlike his great grandpa Fats, Waller's preferred genre is hip-hop.
He's dropped two albums — "Delusions of Clarity" and "Walking Miracle" — since 2021 and told Andscape, "Music provides such a balance from the football."
He also said music was "definitely a part of my healing process."
Waller long struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, but after committing to his recovery, he started a foundation to help at-risk youth avoid and overcome their addictions.
Waller signs autographs for Raiders fans.
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Waller began using Oxycontin at just 15 years old. As he got older, he grew more dependent on opioids and various other substances — alcohol, cocaine, and an assortment of pills.
"I was spending like almost $100 on pills a day towards the very end of my using," Waller told The New York Post.
Waller went to rehab, got a fresh start with the Raiders, and has maintained his sobriety. And in the years since, he's founded "The Darren Waller Foundation" to help youth "avoid and overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol and support youth and their families during their recovery and treatment journey."
Despite his considerable income, Waller doesn't appear to lead a particularly lavish lifestyle.
Instead of the photos of flashy cars, massive homes, designer clothes, and luxury vacations featured on many top professional athletes' Instagram pages, Waller's profile mostly shows photos of the 6-foot-6 star practicing yoga and spending time in nature.
He spends lots of his free time promoting his foundation and spreading motivational messages — including through his podcast, "Comeback Stories." He co-hosts the show with "international yoga instructor, mindfulness teacher, and personal development coach" Donny Starkins, per the show's landing page.
Like her husband, Plum is one of the highest-paid athletes in her sport.
Plum celebrates during Game 2 of the 2022 WNBA Finals.
Though the team didn't disclose the exact terms of the deal, Her Hoops Stats reports that she'll make $200,000 in base salary each of the next two years. Spotrac says that figure makes Plum the 21st highest-paid player in the WNBA.
The point guard has racked up many endorsement deals with top brands.
Kelsey Plum in the Under Armour "Protect this House" commercial.
Under Armour
Since leaving the Washington Huskies as the top scorer in Division-I women's college basketball history, Plum has landed many lucrative partnerships off the court. She's recently signed a deal to become one of the faces of Under Armour and even appeared in a commercial alongside Steph Curry and South Carolina's women's basketball team.
The pressures that come with fame and fortune are a lot to bear for anyone — especially when you're married to another person with similar stressors. But Plum and Waller have managed to find a mutual understanding in one another, and they both seem to value balance and groundedness above all else.
Former Bungie lead counsel explains how the studio nailed one of Destiny 2's most infamous leakers
Yesterday I ignored 10 tornado warnings to finish a Destiny 2 raid, didn't get the exotic drop, and disappointed my fiancée. Is there some sort of lesson here?
Ash of Gods: The Way перенесут на смартфоны — появилась страница в Play Market