Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and the rest of the team are now allowed to fly charter for their remaining road games after she was harassed while waiting to board a commercial flight last weekend, a source told ESPN's Josh Weinfuss.
Following the incident, the WNBA updated Griner's travel plans and security details, commissioner Cathy Engelbert confirmed on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on Friday.
Other teams are now also allowed to fly on JSX, a public flight chartering service, sources told ESPN's Alexa Philippou.
On June 10, social media personality Alex Stein confronted Griner and her teammates at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport while they waited to board a flight to Indianapolis. A police report said Stein pushed security personnel and "seemed aggressive and made some inappropriate comments," according to Philippou.
The Mercury flew on a JSX flight for their two previous road games in Los Angeles and Dallas but had to fly commercial to Indianapolis as there was no standard JSX route available, sources told Weinfuss.
Griner was detained in Russia in February 2022 after airport customs officials found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pled guilty in July and was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug possession and smuggling. She was freed in a prisoner swap in December.
The WNBA expanded charter flight use in April, allowing teams to fly privately for back-to-back regular-season games and during playoffs.
Before the season started, the WNBA said it would allow Griner to fly charter for all away games. However, the league only preapproved her for two charter flights with the option of adding more flights for only Griner when needed, a source told Weinfuss. The league strongly contests the claim.
Griner missed Friday's contest against the Washington Mystics due to a hip injury.
