Sports World Reacts To Concerning Brittney Griner Update

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner is at the forefront of an interesting situation brewing in the WNBA. 

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne announced over the weekend that Griner may need to fly privately this season due to security concerns. The issue for the WNBA is that teams are not currently allowed to fly privately. 

"The issue of private air travel has come to the forefront of free agent conversations around the WNBA, multiple sources told ESPN, because of the assumption that Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner will need to fly privately due to security concerns," Shelburne said. "If Griner were to fly privately the league would have to address whether her teammates on the Mercury would fly privately with her. That would raise the question of fairness for the other teams in the league, which are currently not allowed to fly privately."

WNBA owners would have to vote in order to make any changes to their current system. 

Unsurprisingly, the basketball world believes WNBA teams should fly privately. 

"I kinda hate that the only reason this started to become a big concern only because of what happened to BG," one person said. "Players have been talking about it for years and even Joe Tsai tried to help but no the league just shot it down and even tried to disband the team."

Another person tweeted, "Besides the possible Britney Griner issue, the fact that the WNBA doesn’t fly private is insane to me. How come they’re the only ones that don’t?"

"Get those women the travel they deserve," a third person wrote. 

Griner was arrested last February in Russia. The United States secured her release at the end of 2022 in a one-for-one prisoner swap.

We'll see if the WNBA makes a league-wide change to its travel policies.