In the NBA, there have been a few instances of twin brothers concurrently playing on the same NBA team, with the most recent and recognizable examples perhaps being Marcus and Markieff Morris and Brook and Robin Lopez.
On the Indiana Fever, there’s a different type of twin scenario; three players on the team actually have a twin sister, or in one case a twin sister and set of twin daughters.
Jantel Lavender and Kelsey Mitchell, who share the same birthday and are both graduates of the Ohio State University, both have twin sisters. Candice Dupree also has a twin sister and is even the mother of twin daughters, Cali and Demi.
From a basketball standpoint, their respective twin siblings don’t play professionally, but they all still have close relationships and have been inseparable for essentially their entire lives, just ask Jantel Lavender.
“It’s honestly liking growing up with a best friend,” Lavender said with smile. “Like everything we do, you have somebody to do it with.”
For Lavender, one of her favorite moments with her sister was attending college together where Jazmine even joined the team as a student manager.
“I think one of my best memories is when we went to Ohio State together,” Lavender replied. “She was at every single game [as a team manager] and with me every step of the way. It was just an amazing experience, because I had her with me the whole time.”
Although, just like any sibling relationship, twins have disagreements or different perspectives, Lavender says one thing that will never change is their special connection.
“In our entire life, we had one fight and that was when we were in fifth grade. After that we vouched to never physically fight ever again. Obviously, we argue and have disagreements, but we never fought again.”
“I hear some twins talk about how they don’t talk to each other, but I really we have a connection similar to soulmates. I know that sounds deep, but that’s really how it feels.”
