Angel Reese ‘Mebounds’ trademark, explained: Sky star embraces online trolls with new nickname

Chicago Sky star Angel Reese isn’t just a businesswoman. She’s a business, too.

As her second WNBA season gets going, Reese’s team has experienced its fair share of ups and downs, losing seven of its first 10 games. And while team success has come at a premium, Reese is leading the league in rebounds per game, though online trolls have criticized her methods of dominating the glass.

Because some of Reese’s offensive rebounds come from her misses, Brandon “Bishop BHen” Hendricks of Jeff Teague’s Club 520 podcast, jokingly said they should be called “Mebounds,” a play on following your shot. The joke quickly caught on, and internet trolls began to call Reese’s offensive boards by the name.

The joke reached Reese, who first posted a TikTok embracing the new moniker, but she was not done there. Here’s how Reese has now taken action to use the attempt at mockery to her advantage.

Angel Reese ‘Mebounds’ trademark, explained

After the trolling went viral, Reese responded on TikTok, embracing it in her own way by giving credit to the creativity of the name.

“Whoever came up with the ‘mebounds’ thing, y’all ate that up,” Reese said. “Because mebounds, crebounds, keybounds, tebounds… anything that comes off the board, it’s mine.”

She added, “Whoever came up with that, the trolling, I love when y’all do it because the ideas be good. … When y’all came up with mebounds — cause, statistically, all the rebounds that I get aren’t always just mine. They’re the defenses, too, or somebody else’s on my team — but when y’all came up with mebounds, y’all ate that one little thing. Jeanine, we’re going to work with that.”

Monday, a user on X (formerly Twitter), uncovered that Angel Reese LLC had filed a trademark for “Mebounds,” crediting the star forward and her agent, Jeanine Ogbonnaya, for making it their own.

In a matter of days, a viral joke poking fun at Reese has now been used in her favor as she owns the intellectual property. Given Reese’s endorsement deals with Reebok, Reese’s, and McDonald’s, among other brands, the “Mebounds” trademark could be potentially used in many ways.

The trademark wraps a major weekend for Reese, who, one day prior, recorded the first triple-double of her WNBA career with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a Chicago win over Connecticut.

As the “Mebounds” phenomenon takes a life of its own, there will likely be much more of that to come.