Brittney Griner’s team, the Phoenix Mercury, announced she is taking a mental health break.Photo:Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty
Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty
WNBA starBrittney Grineris taking a timeout.The Phoenix Mercury announced on Saturday that the All-Star center, 32, will not travel with the team for their upcoming two-game road trip in order to focus on her mental health.
“The Mercury fully support Brittney, and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return,” the team said in a statement, according toSports Illustrated.
Griner made her triumphantreturn to the WNBAin June after missing all of last season while serving a nearly 10-month detention in Russia on drug charges that U.S. officials heavily disputed. She was released in a prisoner swap between the two countries in December.
Arike Ogunbowale and Brittney Griner.Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty
Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty
Alex Stein, a YouTube personality, uploaded a video to the platform featuring himself confronting the basketball player with a camera as she walked through the airport alongside her teammates.
A source toldCNNthat the encounter took place around 9:30 a.m. local time when the team was on their way to a game. The man, the outlet said, was eventually tackled, and law enforcement got involved.
“His actions were inappropriate and unfortunate,” the league continued. “The safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority. Prior to the season, the WNBA worked together with the Phoenix Mercury and BG’s team to ensure her safety during her travel, which included charter flights for WNBA games and assigned security personnel with her at all times. We remain steadfastly committed to the highest standards of security for players.”
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Griner laterbroke her silence on the incident, saying it was a “rock bottom” moment for the league, according toESPN.
“I’ll say this. I think we should have already had the option to use a different airline, a more private airline, charter flights,” she explained while speaking to the media on June 26. “It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom, because I feel like waiting for something to happen and then making a change … you don’t know what that something’s gonna be.”
She continued, “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.”
Griner added that she was “glad” the league “finally got it together” to “allow” players to travel privately, but said that “it’s just a shame that it took so damn long, honestly.”
The WNBA and Mercury have kept the updates of Griner’s travel arrangements confidential since the incident, which ESPN reported is due to “safety reasons.”
source: people.com
