Get to Know Janae Sims

Jordan Robinson

In the Eastern Michigan University’s Convocation Center, 13-year-old Janae Sims had her broom in tow. It was the 2008 WNBA Finals, and the Detroit Shock were set to sweep the San Antonio Silver Stars 3-0. This would be the franchise’s third title, and as early as Sims could remember, she bled blue, white, and red. 

Playing pick-up, she practiced posterizing her twin sister, Jayla, on a Little Tikes plastic hoop. And then, around seven years old, her parents introduced her to the home team: the Detriot Shock.

“Deanna Nolan was my first love,” Sims admits. “Watching her play was life-changing…She would float. I’ve never seen someone jump like that in my life.”

Deanna Nolan had crisp, straight-back braids that brushed the nape of her neck as she would glide up and down the court. Her game was mesmerizing, and Sims was mesmerized. Nolan wasn’t the tallest on the court for the Shock, but man, was she athletic. This was Sims’ North Star;  if Nolan could do it, so could she. (And you better believe Sims had cornrows, too.)

“That environment, that atmosphere — I loved it,” Sims, now 28, recalls the genesis of her WNBA fandom. “I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted someone to cheer for me like that. And then I just got obsessed with the game.” 

Obsessed is right. Before she was emphatically known as Auntie Nae on TikTok with her 560K followers two-stepping to every viral video, Sims was a little baller with big dreams. Since elementary school, Sims was always the only girl playing pick-up.

At Skyline High School, Sims was a shifty, speedy point guard — a vocal leader who also took on the role of scoring. Many girls wanted to shoot 3s, but Sims wanted a mid-range game like Nolan. After playing for three years on varsity, Sims’ hoop dreams came to a halt. 

“I have two heart conditions,” Sims explains, saying that she ultimately passed out on the court in one game. “I was born with a heart murmur, and then I discovered that I had Superventricular Tachycardia (SVT), which means we could be just talking right now, and my heart will go 200 beats a minute for no reason.”

College basketball was out of the picture; her WNBA aspirations faltered. She had to pivot. So, she thought, those who can’t do, teach.

Sims’ first stint as a head coach was for a local middle school girls’ team at 20 years old. Then, it was back to her alma mater, Skyline, where she led the freshman and varsity boys to nearly undefeated seasons. It became adamantly clear: “This,” she added, “is what I’m meant to be doing.”

Then it came full circle. She became head coach for Skyline’s girls basketball program, taking control after five straight losing seasons. When she started, there was only one team for all grades. She changed the culture, made it fun, and started posting Instagram videos for other girls in the neighborhood to join in. 

“The second year, which was this past year, we had a full squad — freshman, JV, and varsity,” Sims beams with pride. “We hadn’t had a freshman team in 10 years — since I graduated Skyline.” 

She wanted to bring more young girls to the sport that has molded her. Sims realized that the recipe of genuine relationships with a dash of social media was vital. 

Sims and her wife, Diana, started posting on TikTok during the pandemic. They’d mimic viral dances, capture their hoop-headedness, and casually keep up with trends. But soon after Sims’ twin, Jayla, posted a cute video of Sims interacting with her niece, Nyla, Auntie Nae became the internet’s favorite auntie. She went from 10K followers to over 200K in a snap. 

An unexpected invite to April’s WNBA Draft came, and Sims could barely hold in her excitement. Simply being mentioned in the same sentence as a league she’s fangirlled over since childhood was incomparable. Stargazed, she went to New York with the plan to capture every moment — who knows if this will ever happen again?

Her followers loved the content she turned out. And from that night on, she invited her followers into her super fandom. Sims said that her family-centered audience could be a perfect opportunity to bring in new fans — anything she could do to help. 

“My biggest thing is I wanted players to be seen as people because that’s who they are first. They’re not just professional athletes,” Sims said. “These are people who go through the same things that we go through, like the same TikTok songs that we like.” 

She’s made dancing videos with the Fever’s Aliyah Boston and the Dream’s Rhyne Howard. She’s chatted on TikTok Live with the Sky’s Isabelle Harrison like a FaceTime call. Having this type of fan interaction, she says, allows the players to let people get to know them the way they want to be known. The authentic friendships that she has built within the WNBA community shine through. Her comment section is full of statements like, “I started watching the WNBA because of you.”

Sims would describe her title right now as a Professional WNBA Fan. Her past lives as a player and a coach have always been rooted in her obsession with the W. Now, she’s using her platform’s influence to grow the game and show that these ladies can hoop. Because, she says, the league and its players deserve it. 

“I feel like a kid again. My eyes are the same eyes that they were when I was seven, walking into a Detroit Shock game, feeling that same atmosphere,” Sims said. “Now I get to pass that on to another kid and to transfer that energy to someone else or other families. That’s my full circle moment.” 

This past July, Sims was able to gift her parents courtside tickets to a Wings game. They hadn’t been to a live WNBA game since their beloved Shock franchise moved to Tulsa, and now Dallas. Sims’ dad was waving his arms for the T-shirt toss, chanting “defense” alongside her niece and nephew, and hitting the Swag Surf with the crowd. He could see Janae in her element — interacting with players as if they were besties and waving to fans who call out “Auntie Nae!” He fostered her WNBA fandom; now it’s her mission to pass it on.

WNBA reporter Jordan Robinson writes a column on WNBA.com throughout the season and can be reached on Twitter at @HeyJordanR. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.

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