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While WNBA All-Star weekend was full of stars in and beyond the league sphere, one star in particular stole the show. That star is named Ellie the Elephant, and she’s rapidly approaching Phillie Phanatic and Gritty levels of mascot fame.
Much of the focus over the weekend was on Stud Budz Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman. But seemingly everywhere you looked, there was content surrounding Ellie the Elephant.
YEA GLO ‼️ @GloTheofficial 🐘😂 https://t.co/zmiPmAy2Bh pic.twitter.com/Z0GCHHoXs0
— Ellie The Elephant (@BigEllieLiberty) July 20, 2025
How popular is the New York Liberty mascot? She even had her own autograph signing alongside superstar players Sabrina Ionescu and Kiki Iriafen. Although how an elephant signs autographs is something I have yet to work out.
But Ellie’s hijinks aren’t anything new. She went viral last year for crashing a panel involving NBA commissioner Adam Silver at the 2024 Nike Basketball Summit.
While the mascot’s stardom might seem like a fun novelty, one that will soon fade away, I assure you it’s bigger than you could possibly imagine.
She has her own merch and has been featured in major publications such as Vogue, SLAM, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Her TikTok page has over 200,000 followers at and her “Get Ready with Me” video has been watched more than 3.5 million times. Even the biggest of stars want to be seen with her. Last August, she appeared onstage with Ciara for the singer’s “Out of This World Tour” stop at Barclays.
“Ellie exemplifies who we are as a team,” Ionesco told Huffington Post last month. Obviously, she’s our mascot, but I think she’s more than that. I think she embodies New York.”
In her simplest form, Ellie is just the team’s mascot. But plenty of teams have mascots. It takes something special to break out of the pack and become a bona fide star. And there’s no questioning that’s exactly what has happened here.