Do you know the Nick Young meme? Yes, that meme, that one that everyone still knows and uses more than 10 years after its inception. It was shot by Cassy Athena, a photographer and videographer who has shot Young and other NBA players such as Brandon Jennings, Paul George, and others. Her path into virality was not easy.
Cassy was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2009. She was finishing up college, and instead of getting to focus on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, she had to focus on fighting for one.
“I had to get surgery, and then after they did the surgery, I had a really hard time walking,” Cassy told FanSided.
“That was a big turning point in my life because, before that, I was coasting through life. Now, I was like, what's my bigger purpose?”
Cassy began to pursue a career in sports media, with a focus on photography. A professor helped open her eyes to the merging of sports, photos, and videos. Cassy recalled her father taking pictures of her and her siblings playing when they were kids and remembered the first time she took a photo of someone dunking.
“I was shooting in junior college, just kind of playing around for fun, and I had a terrible camera,” Cassy said. “One of the guys was just dunking, and I was able to capture him flying through the air. And I remember seeing everybody's reactions and the emotion, and I'm like, okay, I gotta figure out how to do this all the time.”
There’s no true formal job application or career path for becoming an NBA photographer. Individuals have to put themselves out there, do a lot of work for free, and hope something they do catches someone’s eye.
“When the NBA lockout happened in 2011 that's when I heard about the Drew League, and I went down there, and there's nobody taking photos — just me a couple of video guys. That's kind of how it all started,” Cassy said. “I was just taking photos, and I would send the pictures to the players with my name on it and my watermark, and then the players would say, oh, ‘hey, do you want to come to this block party? Do you want to come to my kid's birthday party?’”
Cassy earned the trust of Young, Paul George, and Brandon Jennings. Jennings was known as a closed-off individual at the time, who didn’t let just anyone into his inner circle. Cassy’s ability to earn his trust through her work was noticed by players around the league.
With those doors broken open, Cassy continued to shoot players around the league and joined them as a gym rat. She caught the attention of James Harden, as well as the rapper, The Game. Cassy posted most of her work on her own Instagram and YouTube. At the time, those platforms were just starting to take off, and the monetization tools they now have were far from a reality. This was a frustration when the viral Young meme took off.
“In the beginning was really hard for me. I feel like every time I saw the meme posted I was reporting pages, they didn't even give me credit, so I was, I was kind of frustrated,” Cassy said.
“You can't really control it though. I’ve learned to let it go and let it just have a life of its own. I have had it licensed a couple of times. I got to make some money off of it. But yeah, and overall, it made Nick even more famous.”
Cassy’s rise as a trusted sports photographer, and her ability to forge strong relationships with professional players at all levels, officially took her career to places she couldn’t imagine at the end of 2025. Two days before Christmas, Cassy was in Australia to shoot the NBL25 Open-Air game between Melbourne United and the Tasmania Jackjumpers. The game was played on a standard court but with an open roof. It featured a light show, fireworks show, and was a unique environment to play a basketball game in.
“I don't think I ever imagined my camera taking me anywhere,” Cassy said. “To be honest, I didn't. A lot of people told me I couldn't make a career out of this. And even being in Australia with the NBL, I was just thinking how this camera literally brought me around the world.”
Cassy has faced long odds and defied them throughout her life and career. But with her world of opportunity expanding, it truly feels like she’s only just getting started.