Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller: All About the Athletes’ Relationship

Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller made their relationship public when they wed

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Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller at the 2022 Inaugural IX Awards.

Darren Waller and Kelsey Plum made headlines when they got married without ever publicly confirming their relationship.

While the couple have not revealed when they started seeing one another, or how exactly they met, they did attend some of the same events over the last two years. The New York Giants tight end has gone to his now-wife’s WNBA games since 2021. They also went to various team and sporting events for their respective Las Vegas teams together (Waller played for the Las Vegas Raiders until March 2023).

“The Vegas vibe has been unbelievable,” Plum told PEOPLE in December 2022 about Sin City, where they were both based at the time. “I didn’t realize the impact that we [Las Vegas Aces] would have on this community. They just appreciate winning. We’re the first professional franchise to bring a championship to Las Vegas, and the people really are just hyped and proud.”

The couple shocked fans by confirming their relationship when they announced to the world that they wed on March 4, 2023.

From their individual careers to details about their wedding, here’s everything to know about Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller’s relationship.

Her athletic skills run in the family

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Kelsey Plum during the game against the Seattle Storm on June 15, 2023.

Plum’s athletic talent comes from her mother, Katie, who played college volleyball at the University of California, Davis, and her father, Jim, who was a basketball player and an All-American football player at San Diego State University.  Additionally, her two older sisters are accomplished volleyball players, while her brother was a tight end for UC Davis.

Plum began her basketball career in high school, where she posted nearly 20 points per game. She later committed to the University of Washington, where she was named captain of her team. As of 2023, Plum holds the most career points for a woman at the college level. She also was a member of Team USA’s U19 Team, which won a gold medal at the Pan American Games.

Related: Kelsey Plum Recalls ‘Lack of Representation’ for Girls While Growing Up: ‘Visibility Is Huge’

She went on to become the first overall pick for the 2017 WNBA Draft, where she joined the San Antonio Stars (which later relocated and became the Las Vegas Aces in 2018). Plum won a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics for the Women’s 3×3 tournament.

She was able to average over 20 points a game, was named MVP during her first WNBA All-Star appearance, and helped her team win the championship in 2022.

He made football history

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Darren Waller attempts a catch over Jalen Thompson during their game at Allegiant Stadium on September 18, 2022.

Waller played football at Georgia Tech as a wide receiver before entering the 2015 NFL Draft, where he was drafted to the Baltimore Ravens during the sixth round. In November 2018, he was signed by the Oakland Raiders, which later moved and renamed themselves the Las Vegas Raiders.

During Week 13 in 2020, he established a Raiders franchise record for a tight end, where he had 13 receptions for 200 receiving yards and also managed to score two touchdowns.

Later that year, he was named to the Pro Bowl for the very first time, before he was ranked 35th by fellow NFL players for the NFL Top 100 Players of 2021 list. In September 2022, he became the highest-paid tight end in the NFL when he signed a three-year $51 million contract extension with the Raiders.

Related: Raiders’ Darren Waller Opens Up About Experience with Addiction and ‘Rising Above’ Adversity: ‘Push Yourself’

He was later traded to the New York Giants in March 2023.

They may have begun dating in 2022

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Darren Waller and Kelsey Plum after Round 1 Game 1 of the 2022 WNBA Playoffs.

The couple started making public appearances in 2022, leading to speculation that they were dating. However, they kept their relationship private and never publicly confirmed how they met or when their relationship began. The pair have known each other since at least 2021, as Waller was photographed attending Plum’s Las Vegas Aces games.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal noted that they applied for their marriage license on Jan. 22, 2023, and the pair wed three months later.

They dated privately while in the public eye

Ethan Miller/Getty

Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller after the Aces 89-78 victory over the Chicago Sky in 2022.

Although Waller and Plum never confirmed their romantic relationship until they wed, they did spend time together in public settings in 2022. Besides basketball games, Waller and Plum attended an All Elite Wrestling match in May 2022, which might have been their first official public outing as a couple.

In June 2022, Waller was Plum’s guest for an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Title IX event put on by her WNBA team. The following month, they went to the inaugural IX Awards at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. They were captured on the red carpet together, making their first official debut.

Plum and the Aces won the 2022 WNBA title that summer, and Waller attended their hometown victory parade celebration, where he was spotted filming a video of Plum as she gave a speech. Their most recent outing before the wedding was in October 2022, when they enjoyed a San Diego Padres game together.

Their wedding date was leaked

Darren Waller Instagram

Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller during their wedding.

News of their confirmed relationship and wedding came in the form of a leak.

Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Josh McDaniels, who was coaching Waller at the time, apparently didn’t realize that their relationship and nuptials were under wraps. He revealed that they were an item, and that there was a wedding taking place along with the date and city during a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Three days later, the couple tied the knot, saying “I do” on March 4, 2023, at GreenGale Farms in Las Vegas.

“It was something I wanted to keep ultimately, completely private from the team,” Waller told AP’s Pro Football podcast. He later shared details behind the engagement, which were also not public knowledge.

“We were in San Diego, and we went to Torrey Pines [State Natural Preserve Park] and there’s this hike to where the beach is,” he revealed on the podcast.  “We went up on this rock where it’s out on the water and I had a photographer there. That’s what I had planned for it.”

He was traded right after their honeymoon

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Darren Waller New York Giants

Less than a day after returning from their honeymoon, McDaniels traded him to the New York Giants. Waller admitted at the first Giants press conference that the trade “caught [him] off guard,” but that he knows it is “the nature of the business.”

“I did not see this coming,” he said. “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.”

At the same time, Plum responded to a tweet about how Josh McDaniels’ “wedding present was to trade [Waller] to the New York Giants. McDaniels is NOT a romantic.” She replied to the tweet, “Prolly [sic] cause he wasn’t invited to the wedding lol.”

They have been together long-distance

Kelsey Plum Instagram

Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller

Days after returning from their honeymoon, Plum shared her excitement about her new husband’s big move in an Instagram Story. He praised his wife for being flexible at the introductory New York Giants press conference.

“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 told reporters. “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.

Luckily for the couple, the NFL and WNBA seasons don’t completely overlap. Plum reported to her team in Las Vegas in late April for the kick-off of the WNBA season in May, which goes through the fall. Waller, meanwhile, arrived in New York for training camp in July 2023, with the season ending in the early new year.

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