Corgi ‘Steph Furry’ Showcases Incredible Basketball Talent, Correctly Predicts Outcome of Hundreds of Sporting Events (Exclusive)

It all started with a balloon. At a family party in 2020, Denny Ku, 34, an accountant from Houston, TX, watched in disbelief as his Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Lilo, batted a balloon into a basket, and made it.

“We were all in shock,” Ku tells PEOPLE exclusively.

But what began as a funny party moment quickly sparked a bigger idea. “We thought, ‘What if we replace it with an inflatable ball — then I could have a real-life Air Bud in my house?’”

After countless attempts, Lilo made her first official basket in June 2020. The timing was perfect: NBA playoffs were underway, and the family realized her playful trick could be transformed into a sports-predicting act — a cheeky nod to the famous Soccer Predicting Octopus.

From there, they leaned in. Ku started filming Lilo’s shots, testing her picks and quickly discovered she had a mind of her own.

“She’s always been a diva,” Ku adds. “Even when we took her to training school, the trainers kept telling us, ‘If you don’t train her, she’ll run the household.’ And honestly? She still does.”

With Lilo’s personality on full display, the family decided to take her talent online, launching a TikTok account during the pandemic. Expectations were modest at first — they were just hoping to hit 5,000 views on a single video — but it didn’t take long for things to snowball.

“The first hit 13K, then 52K, and soon after a blooper trick shot reel went viral with 1 million views,” Ku says. “The reaction to our sports-predicting videos was unmatched, and we love giving people a forum to spam ‘In the corgi we trust.’”

As Lilo’s audience grew, it became clear she was calling the shots herself. “If I try to influence her shots, it often takes longer,” Ku says. “Honestly, she’s more accurate than I am.”

Since then, Lilo has built a following of over 1 million on TikTok and nearly 400,000 on Instagram. Her predictions now span playoff games across basketball, football, soccer, rugby and lacrosse — sometimes even fulfilling fan requests sent through DMs.

Along the way, fans began assigning the corgi her own superstar nickname. Suggestions poured in — from “Corgi Bryant” to “Kevin FURant” — but one stood out.

“It was around the time Steph Curry and the Warriors were dominating, so it felt perfect,” Ku says. “We even call her the Fluffy Mamba — a nod to both Steph Curry and Kobe Bryant.”

While the videos may look effortless, Ku says filming Lilo’s predictions is anything but simple.

For NBA playoffs, she spells out W-I-N with trick shots in best-of-five or best-of-seven formats. “I love capturing the suspense — the ball bouncing in and out, almost making it — so viewers feel my real-time reactions,” he says.

Watching Lilo’s picks has also added an unexpected emotional twist to Ku’s own sports fandom. “If she picks against my team, I feel conflicted,” he admits. “I’m happy if my team wins, but a little sad Lilo got it wrong. If my team loses, at least Lilo called it. It makes watching sports emotionally confusing, but so much fun.”

Behind the scenes, Ku says, the experience is also equal parts chaos and comedy.

“Sometimes Lilo breaks picture frames or I have to fetch balls for her,” he says. “It’s hilarious, and it’s brought us closer together.”

Some of Lilo’s predictions have gone viral for their uncanny accuracy. Ku says she nailed a Manchester City vs. Manchester United soccer match, predicting the final score, the order of goals and even the rim-outs. She’s also hit several Super Bowl picks and recently forecasted a seven-game Dodgers MLB series win.

But not every prediction ends in a win, and one high-stakes call during the 2023 NBA playoffs revealed just how invested fans had become in Steph Furry’s picks.

“Lilo predicted the Warriors to come back from 3–1, and the first five games went exactly in the order of Lilo’s buckets,” Ku recalls. “Before Game 6, our corgi was everywhere in the basketball world. We had people doing commentary videos on us, angry Lakers fans sending ‘intense’ DMs and messages — our prediction video was going everywhere.”

“Unfortunately, the Warriors lost Game 6, and that was all that,” he adds. “As sad as it was, it was nice to have a little fresh air from all the comments and video replies.”

The moment underscored how quickly a single corgi’s prediction could ignite the internet. Still, Ku says even the most heated reactions come with humor.

“As intense as these moments can get with passionate fans, I enjoy it a lot,” he says. “I think if there is an angry fan comment, I also see a lot of replies with ‘dude, it’s just a dog, chill’.”

“In a last resort, I can also just respond with ‘bark bark’ lol,” he continues. “Since my dog is really the star of the whole show, no one really knows me personally, so I’m not really impacted too much by any intense moments with my dog.”

Lilo’s rise hasn’t gone unnoticed beyond social media.

Athletes, teams and even ESPN have recognized her talents. In 2024, Ku and Lilo attended NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, meeting players like Myles Turner and connecting with other influencers.

Now, even at 10, Lilo shows no signs of slowing down. She still plays fetch for hours, with scheduled “active rest times” to manage her puppy-like stamina. Now a big sister to Ku’s children, Koa (3) and Kya (1), she’s inspired the family to write a children’s book, An Underdog’s Tail, chronicling her journey as a small dog competing against larger breeds like German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers.

Looking ahead, the family hopes to expand Lilo’s brand with educational content for kids, teaching basic concepts like shapes and numbers, while continuing to entertain sports fans around the world.

“The best part of all this is the bond I’ve built with my dog,” Ku says. “Whether a video gets 10,000 views or millions, I never regret the time spent creating it. Lilo proves that even the smallest dog can make a huge impact.”