In just her second WNBA season, Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is already a veteran in the game of stardom. Being in the center of the sports and culture zeitgeist since 2023, Reese has picked up quite a few savvy tricks for navigating the good and bad that comes with fame. One lesson she recently demonstrated mastery in is using trolls to your advantage.
The second-year forward immediately became an impact player in the WNBA because of her record-breaking rebounding ability. However, detractors of Reese, who are committed to downplaying everything she does— for whatever reason —started to run with a false narrative that her rebounding wasn’t impressive because many of them came from her own misses.
Not only has the narrative been debunked— as numbers show only a small percentage of her rebounds are from her own misses, and even if those were removed, she still would have a league-leading amount of rebounds —it never made sense because everyone misses shots. The least you could do after a miss is grab an offensive board and give your team another possession.
Chicago Sky's Angel Reese files brilliant trademark that could increase her WNBA popularity even more
Despite the debunking, online trolls are still trying to push this narrative. Most recently, the "Club 520 Podcast" talked about Reese becoming the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds earlier this month, and co-host Brandon Hendricks, known online as Bishop B Henn, suggested that there are “a lot of mebounds in that.”
The created term simply refers to grabbing a rebound off your own missed shot.
It’s unclear if Hendricks created the term or if he was just the most popular voice to use it. Either way, it was a subtle jab at Reese and what she just accomplished, but the WNBA All-Star revealed that she loved the term and had plans to turn it into a brand.
Speaking in a TikTok video, Reese wasn’t sure of the creator of the term, but she applauded them, saying it doesn’t matter what letters are put in front of bounds, anything that comes off the backboard is hers. She went on to say that’s a six-figure brand right there, thanking her trolls for all the good ideas that are going to make her money.
This may have just seemed like some social media banter, but it was quickly discovered that Reese wasn’t joking. The 23-year-old recently filed a trademark for the term “mebounds” under the goods and services category. If approved, the basketball star could soon start selling merchandise with the phrase.
Reese has consistently capitalized on her ever-increasing fame, securing deals with Reebok, McDonald’s, Beats by Dre, Reese’s, and many other brands. The rebounding machine was even featured on Reese’s Puffs cereal boxes.
That, of course, was an easy deal to make because of her last name. Reese now believes she has another easy idea, thanks to the creativity of her haters.