Brittney Griner: WNBA is working on travel opportunities for Phoenix Mercury players

NEW YORK –

The WNBA is working with Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury on travel options, including future charter flights.

Griner’s journey was back in the spotlight last week when the team took a flight to Texas and then Indiana, requiring Griner and her Mercury teammates to travel through commercial airports. While passing through a Dallas airport last Saturday, the All-Star center, who had been held in Russia for nearly 10 months, was harassed by what the WNBA called a “provocateur.”

The league does not allow teams to use charter flights except when they have back-to-back matches.

Many teams use the public charter airline JSX. Those flights are allowed by the WNBA with certain protocols, including teams flying on the 30-seat planes with pre-set routes and times.

The Mercury flew JSX to their first road game in Los Angeles and took the airline to Dallas. There was no standard flight available on the airline from Dallas to Indianapolis, so Griner was on the commercial flight.

Questions remain about who would pay for it if the WNBA allowed Griner to fly privately. Also, if the league allows Phoenix to use JSX to fly to any of the other 11 cities teams play in by creating their own flights, how would other teams view that as it would give the Mercury a potential competitive advantage.

The league said Griner’s safety has been an ongoing concern since the start of the season. League officials spoke to Mercury officials and the seven-time All-Star representatives about how to protect Griner and her teammates after the highly publicized trial, which saw her jailed in Russia on drug charges before being released in an exchange in December of prisoners.

The league granted Griner permission to book her own charter flights before the season began.

“We’re just working with Phoenix to make sure we have a good plan for the future,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Friday on ESPN, “certainly for Brittney and for the rest of the Phoenix Mercury.”

The executive director of the WNBA players’ union spoke to Griner on Thursday and said he was frustrated.

“She said, ‘We knew this was going to happen,'” Terri Jackson said.

The Mercury is currently on a two-game road trip to Washington and New York. Griner did not play in Friday’s loss to the Mystics due to a hip injury.