Mercury wing Sophie Cunningham says Brittney Griner’s harassment at airport was ‘embarrassing’ for WNBA
Saturday’s incident at a Dallas airport involving the Phoenix Mercury where Brittney Griner was harassed by a YouTube personality has brought more attention to the team in the last few days.
And with that attention, different players are speaking out against the WNBA’s protections for its players. Some of the issues include travel restrictions that prohibit teams from chartering flights for an entire season.
“I don’t think people, or our commissioner Cathy (Engelbert), or our league, know 90% of what BG goes through,” Mercury wing Sophie Cunningham said. “Honestly, it’s an embarrassment that our league doesn’t protect their players. Us as women in the WNBA, we do so much to try to help with different cultures, different types of people, different charities. Yet, they’re not willing to protect their product and that’s embarrassing. It’s straight-up embarrassing and it sucks.”
Cunningham said the team was circled around a wall as their protection during the incident while they waited for help.
“For BG, to already go what she’s been through, last time it was one person in the airport,” Cunningham said. “Imagine if there were 10 people there. Even if there were five. We have no protection.”
According to the police report, airport officers were unable to locate the man in the area and he reportedly did not have an American Airlines ticket. The airport's master control room confirmed that the man "walked to the lower gates, connected with a female passenger and entered the Skylink Train heading to Terminals B & D."
As part of the league’s travel policy, all WNBA teams must fly commercially unless otherwise specified. In April, the WNBA announced an expansion of league-paid charters that included flights for all postseason games and select regular season games where teams have back-to-back games on the schedule.
Following the incident where Griner and her teammates were confronted by a social media provocateur, the league released a statement that Griner has been approved to fly charter for WNBA games.
However, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, disputed the claim that Griner could fly charter and said the league planned a mix of charter and commercial flights for her.
Cunningham added that player safety issues have happened around the league and not just with the Mercury. Last season, the Los Angeles Sparks were forced to sleep at an airport following a flight cancellation and a lack of hotel rooms available. In August 2018, the Las Vegas Aces forfeited a game because players opted not to play after they had faced more than 25 hours of travel.
“It’s embarrassing for our league to put its players in that position, not only for BG, but for our safety, for our bodies,” Cunningham said. “If they want a good product on the court, they got to do something. They got the money, they need to put it where their mouth is and do stuff for their players. We’re pretty mad about it and upset for BG.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury's Sophie Cunningham calls out WNBA following Griner's harassment
