Brittney Griner: ‘Shame’ WNBA said ‘let’s wait and see’ with her travel
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Brittney Griner shoots against the Seattle Storm during the third quarter at Climate Pledge Arena on June 24.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Phoenix Mercury centre Brittney Griner was critical of how the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) had handled her travel situation this season in the wake of an incident earlier in June at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Griner, whom the US State Department deemed was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly 10 months in 2022 on a drug charge, is back playing in the WNBA.
As the Mercury were heading through the airport on June 10 to get from Dallas to Indianapolis, a YouTube personality harassed her over her past political statements.
The WNBA labelled him a provocateur and said “the safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority”, but the incident brought the league’s travel policies, a long-running concern, back into question.
The league typically does not allow teams to charter because it could create a competitive advantage for those who can afford to pay for them.
Griner expressed dissatisfaction with the league’s belated reaction on Monday. “I think we should have already had the option to use a different airline, a more private airline, charter flights,” she said, according to ESPN.
“It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom, because I feel like it’s waiting for something to happen and then making a change... you don’t know what that ‘something’ is going to be.
“We’ve all seen what can happen in this world. And when you play the ‘let’s wait and see’ game, you’re really playing with fire. You’re playing with people’s lives.
“So I’m glad they finally got it together. And, you know, are going to allow us to do this. It’s just a shame it took so damn long, honestly.”
It remains unknown whether Griner or the Mercury as a team are taking chartered flights to road games.
The WNBA has claimed that Griner was already approved to fly privately before the start of the season, yet she was with her team as they had to traverse through parts of the Dallas airport open to the public to reach a commercial flight to their next game.
After the incident, Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard said the team would make travel adjustments for their upcoming road games. Nygaard was fired on Sunday after a 2-10 start to the season and assistant Nikki Blue was named the interim coach.
Griner had not spoken publicly about the incident until after Saturday night’s loss to the Seattle Storm. “The message is being heard,” she said, after posting 11 points and six rebounds.
“It has been a very warm welcome being back home, but there are times when it’s not so warm, so we’re dealing with that in different steps, trying to avoid it as much as we can. My team is doing a good job on keeping the noise back.” REUTERS
