Angel Reese applies for ‘Mebounds’ trademark

CHICAGO (WGN) — Angel Reese aims to expand her business ventures portfolio by capitalizing on a social media trend framed as an insult to her game.

The Chicago Sky’s star power forward filed for a trademark on the word “Mebounds” on Saturday. The trademark application, as of Wednesday, is still pending and would pertain to branded t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats.

But what exactly is a “mebound” and where did it come from?

It’s a term that has gained traction this WNBA season after a slew of viral social media posts critiqued Reese for the rebounds she’s corralled off her own misses. It’s meant as a barb toward Reese, and receiving flak from the internet’s rebounding critics is nothing new for her.

“Whoever came up with the Mebounds thing, y’all ate that up,” Reese said on TikTok the same day she applied for the trademark. “Because rebounds, mebounds, crebounds, kebounds, tebounds—anything that comes off that board, it’s mine. It’s mine. And our brand? That’s six figures right there. Whoever came up with that—the trolling, I love when y’all do that.

“The ideas be good … when y’all came up with mebounds, because statistically all the rebounds I get are always just mine, or the defenses, or someone else on my team. But when y’all came up with mebounds, y’all ate up on that one thing. Jenny, we’re working. We’re going to work with that.”

Since her debut with the Sky, Reese has been the subject of a number of reels on Instagram and posts on TikTok poking fun at sequences that feature her rebounding a missed layup, only for her to miss or be blocked on the putback.

The Sky’s season opener was no exception, where the New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones blocked two of Reese’s four shot attempts at the rim after Reese gathered four straight offensive rebounds in the span of about 15 seconds. Here’s just one example that made its rounds on Instagram.

As the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe writes, these moments are real and when they happen, they capture Reese at her best and her worst.

In my words, they are emblematic of the roller coaster ride those who watch Reese lock themselves into at times when she is on the court.

One moment, Reese is using superb positioning and body control to seal her matchup under the basket and position herself for yet another offensive board. It’s something that’s Dennis Rodman-like when seen play out in real time. Then moments later, close-range ineffectiveness and frustration set in.

Miss. Rebound. Block. Rebound. Miss. Rebound. Then a made putback, here and there.

It’s led some to question if Reese is artificially inflating, or “stat-padding,” her rebounding numbers. She currently leads the WNBA in rebounding at 11.7 per game, 1.4 more than Jones, who is in second place.

According to Poe, that hasn’t been the case.

Through the Sky’s first ten games, 18 of Reese’s 119 rebounds were “mebounds,” or about 15.1% of her total rebounds. In the first five games, she averaged three “mebounds” per game, but over the next five, she averaged 0.6 per game without corralling a single “mebound” in three straight games before Tuesday’s 79-72 loss to the Washington Mystics.

Poe also said the “mebound” fixation distracts from the real problem at hand—Reese’s finishing ability is bad.

At the rim, Reese is shooting 32.6% in 2025 after shooting 49.8% at the rim during her rookie season. If Reese were shooting league average at the rim (65%), she would be averaging at least 2.7 more points per game this year.

While her close-range shooting numbers have been abysmal, other areas of Reese’s game have improved. She’s averaging 3.6 assists per game, nearly double her rookie average of 1.9, with her best example of becoming a point forward coming against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday, where Reese logged her first career triple-double (11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists) in the Sky’s 78-66 victory.

Improvement in other areas of her game show Reese’s promise, but if she can’t find a way to become more efficient at the rim, social media will continue to push narratives like the one around “mebounds,” even though Reese could soon profit from the criticism.