INDIANAPOLIS – Chicago Sky All-Star forward Angel Reese is not afraid to admit she’s human.
She’s not afraid to admit she has feelings, and she’s not afraid to admit that she’s not immune to all of the negative comments spewed at her from various corners of social media.
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The former LSU star has turned the negativity outward by trademarking and selling merchandise with “mebounds” on it, a phrase used to mock her for getting an offensive rebound after missing a layup. A portion of the proceeds go to The Angel C. Reese Foundation to support cyber bullying prevention but learning to deal with everything that comes with being a budding star in the WNBA has been a gradual process.
“Just staying grounded and keeping the main thing, the main thing,” Reese said on how she handles negativity. “I’m blessed. I pray a lot. I have long nights; I have long car rides where I drive and smile or drive and cry or drive and pray. I think it’s just a part of the process.
“I’ve always been a person who could trust God with everything that I go through and never be too down on myself. It took a couple months after I won the national championship to get acclimated to this new life.”
As a collection of the best women’s basketball players in the world come to Indiananplis to show off their skill at the 2025 WNBA All-Star game, Reese’s peers took time to acknowledge what she goes through. Three-time All-Star and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell said the online negativity comes from people’s inability to view athletes as human beings. Words can hurt people. Until so-called WNBA fans realize players are more than just athletes on a TV screen, the game cannot move forward.
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“I think it’s important to make sure that we keep it less about color and more about just human to human,” Mitchell said. “I think if you just have decency and common decency about what we do as women on the floor, you know that Angel Reese is a bad woman on and off the floor, and we as women have to represent that.
“I think she does a great job of making sure she keeps herself professional, but we as people just got to be people. … Just be a good human.”
Minnesota Lynx five-time All-Star NaPheesa Collier said she learned to deal with negativity by separating the online world from real life. Collier said someone making a hateful comment online is a reflection of that person, adding the poise in which Reese has navigated the online hate has been remarkable.
“The amount (of hate) she gets is horrible. It’s really horrible,” Collier said. “It started when she was a kid in college at 20 years old. I just can’t imagine people talking to someone in that way, but she handles herself with grace and poise, more than a lot of people do.
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“Thousands, millions of people saying things about you can break a lot of people. She seems so strong, and I’m really proud of the way she’s been able to do that.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA All-Stars show support for Angel Reese as she handles online negativity with poise
