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The WNBA condemned harassment that Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner apparently endured from a social media personality on Saturday morning at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Alex Stein, a Dallas-area YouTube personality, professed to be the person filming Griner at the airport. He posted a photo on Twitter, saying “I just met my favorite WNBA player Brittney Griner. Video coming soon,” and later posted an 11-second video of him shouting toward Griner as she walked through the concourse.

“Do you still want to boycott America, Britney?” Stein asks Griner as she walks by. Some men get physical with Stein at this point before he asks, “What about the merchant of death, Brit?”

Stein, 36, said he will air the video on YouTube on Sunday.

Griner spent 10 months in a Russian jail after being detained for marijuana possession in February 2022. In December, she was released in a deal in which the United States agreed to release imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The WNBA released a statement criticizing Stein well before the video snippet was released.

“As we gather additional information about today’s incident at the Dallas airport, it has come to our attention that this was orchestrated by a social media figure and provocateur. His actions were inappropriate and unfortunate,” the league said in a statement. “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.”

Brianna Turner of the Mercury provided some context of what happened at the airport.

“Player safety while traveling should be at the forefront,” Turner said on Twitter. “People following with cameras saying wild remarks is never acceptable. Excessive harassment. Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.”

The WNBA players union said the league needs to do a better job of providing charter flights.

“As we continue to hear from our members throughout the start of the season and particularly today with the situation involving the Phoenix Mercury at the Dallas airport, we are quite clear that the matter of charter travel is NOT a ‘competitive advantage’ issue,” the union said in a statement. “We cannot help but wonder if the league and teams preclude more reasonable and flexible rules regarding charter travel in 2023 in order to seek leverage on this issue at the bargaining table.

“What BG and all of her Phoenix teammates experienced today was a calculated confrontation that left them feeling very unsafe. Everyone who was paying attention knew this would happen. We could have and should have been more proactive.”

The Mercury lost Friday night in Dallas and were travelling for Sunday’s road game against the Indiana Fever.

–Field Level Media

Sabrina Ionescu is fresh off the best shooting game of her WNBA career and Arike Ogunbowale is right behind her on the 3-point sharpshooting list.

The star guards will look to put on a show when Ionescu’s New York Liberty host Ogunbowale and the Dallas Wings on Sunday afternoon.

Ionescu scored a career-high 37 points and set a franchise record with eight 3-pointers — another career best — as New York (5-2) routed the host Atlanta Dream 106-83 on Friday night.

Ionescu averaged 4.5 points on 3-of-16 shooting — including 1 of 9 from 3-point range — over the previous two games before breaking out big. She was 8 of 13 from behind the arc while falling one shy of Kelsey Mitchell’s WNBA single-game record of nine, set in 2019.

“My teammates got me the ball,” Ionescu said. “I was just thankful we won at the end of the day. I was just making the reads and shooting if I’m open.”

Ionescu, who is averaging 15.7 points per game, led the WNBA entering Saturday’s play with 24 3-pointers. Ogunbowale was second with 21.

Breanna Stewart leads New York in scoring (23.9) and rebounding (10.3). She had 25 points and nine rebounds against Atlanta.

Stewart ranks second in the WNBA in scoring and the Dallas duo of Ogunbowale (22.4) and Satou Sabally (21.8) rank third and fourth, respectively. Sabally leads the league in rebounding at 11.3 per game.

Ogunbowale put on her own show Friday with season bests of 35 points and five 3-pointers as Dallas (5-3) completed a two-game home sweep of the Phoenix Mercury with a 90-77 victory.

“This was her 13th 30-point game in her career,” first-year Wings coach Latricia Trammell said. “I mean, she just sets the tone. She can hit big shots when we need them like she did. She watches a lot of film. She wants to enhance her skillset and try to create more for her teammates as well.”

Sabally added 17 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for her fifth straight double-double and sixth of the season.

Sabally will face her younger sister, Nyara, for the first time in their WNBA careers. Nyara Sabally is averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in five appearances off the bench for the Liberty.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Sparks are getting reinforcements to make a building team even better.

After getting Azura Stevens (back) into their lineup for the first time on Tuesday night in a loss at Seattle, Los Angeles welcomed Jasmine Thomas (knee) into the playing rotation during Friday night’s 77-62 home win over Chicago.

Stevens and Thomas get another chance to chip off rust on Sunday night when the Sparks (4-3) travel to Minneapolis for a matchup with the struggling Minnesota Lynx (1-7).

Thomas, who played for Los Angeles coach Curt Miller last year in Connecticut, worked 12 minutes in her season debut, finishing with five points and a rebound. Stevens went 0-for-7 from the floor Friday night in 13 minutes but pulled down six rebounds and blocked a shot.

“Excited about the potential but again, (you) have to get cobwebs off people that missed significant time,” Miller said. “They all want to be coached and pushed to become their old self but you have to give them some time to get back into a rhythm.”

Nneka Ogwumike scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds Friday night. She averages team-leading totals in both categories (20.3, 10.0).

Meanwhile, Minnesota missed a chance to earn consecutive wins when it dropped a 71-69 decision at home Friday night to Indiana in a matchup of the WNBA’s last-place teams. The Lynx hit just 38.1 percent from the field to cancel out a good defensive effort.

“Defensively, we put ourselves in position to be successful,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “(We allowed) 71 points, you’ve got to be able to win that one.”

Instead, the Lynx lost because of poor shooting and turnovers. They committed 14 turnovers that led to 20 points for the Fever. Minnesota was outscored 19-0 in fast-break points.

Napheesa Collier, who scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, is averaging a team-high 19.8 points per game on the season.

The Lynx won two of three meetings last year, although the road team won every game in the series.

–Field Level Media

The next step in the process for the Indiana Fever would be establishing a winning streak.

That opportunity comes Sunday in Indianapolis with a matchup against the visiting Phoenix Mercury.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “All we talk about is finishing.”

The Fever (2-5) shed their long losing streak stemming from last season earlier this spring and then topped the host Minnesota Lynx 71-69 on Friday night.

The Lynx managed only 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“When we talked about holding them down, we can,” Sides said. “We got those stops that we needed.”

The Mercury (1-5) have dropped three games in a row, including the last two at Dallas.

Perhaps most alarming in the Dallas games was the combined 91-57 rebounding edge for the Wings.

“Right now, what we need is people to rebound,” Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard said. “Right now, we just don’t have that.”

Center Brittney Griner had a team-high 18 points for Phoenix in a 90-77 setback on Friday, but pulled in only five rebounds. Brianna Turner had a team-best eight rebounds off the bench.

Indiana, meanwhile, has had a player with a double-digit rebounding total in each of its last six games.

Indiana is 0-2 at home this season, so breaking through in front of its fans would be a bonus. The Fever’s two prior home games came against the 2022 WNBA finalists, Connecticut and Las Vegas.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell said of achieving a sustained breakthrough for the team. “I think our group is really honing in.”

Mitchell scored 22 points in the Minnesota game for her third game this season with 20 or more points.

Mitchell is averaging a team-high 17.4 points, while Fever rookie Aliyah Boston is putting up 15.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. NaLyssa Smith is averaging a double-double with 13.0 points and 10.6 boards.

Griner leads Phoenix in scoring (21.7), rebounding (7.3) and blocks (2.8) while Diana Taurasi leads the team in assists (6.3) and is second in scoring (17.3).

–Field Level Media

In three-plus seasons with the Connecticut Sun, DeWanna Bonner never experienced the prolific production she did Thursday night.

Actually no player in team history was ever as productive as Bonner, who attempts to follow up a career-high 41-point showing with another big game Sunday afternoon when Connecticut visits the Atlanta Dream in College Park, Ga.

Bonner heads into Sunday averaging 17.6 points, up from the 13.5 she contributed in 33 games last season and on par with her scoring average of 19.7 in 2020 after being acquired from Phoenix for three first-round picks.

Bonner has topped 20 points three times so far but doubled her previous season high by making 16 of 23 shots and hitting five 3-pointers in a 94-77 win over the visiting Las Vegas Aces. Bonner’s big night occurred 48 hours after she was held to five points and shot 2-for-9 in 23 minutes in a 90-84 loss to Las Vegas.

Bonner broke the team record of 35 points set by Shannon Johnson during the 2002 season when the franchise was known as the Orlando Miracle.

“We know what she’s capable of and I think, you know, she reminded the league of what type of player she is,” Connecticut forward Alyssa Thomas said.

Besides seeing if Bonner can produce another big game, the Sun (7-2) are hoping to deliver another strong defensive showing. They converted 18 Las Vegas turnovers into 21 points on Thursday.

“We know that every day we’ve got to go out and earn it. Every possession we have to go out and earn it,” Sun coach Stephanie White said. “This is a group who not only accepts that but embraces that.”

Atlanta (2-4) has lost two straight and three of four at home so far. The Dream followed up a 92-87 loss to Las Vegas on June 2 by allowing a season-higih 14 3-pointers in a 106-83 loss to the New York Liberty on Friday.

Alisha Gray scored 17 points and Rhyne Howard added 15 points, but the Dream were unable to prevent Sabrina Ionescu from scoring 37.

“I’ll eat Sabrina having 37,” Atlanta coach Tanisha Wright said. “I clearly didn’t have the right game plan.”

–Field Level Media

The Washington Mystics aim to complete a two-game sweep of the Storm on Sunday afternoon when the teams reconvene in Seattle.

Brittney Sykes scored a season-high 18 points and Shakira Austin recorded her fourth consecutive double-double on Friday to propel the Mystics to a 73-66 victory over the Storm. Austin collected 15 points and 11 rebounds for Washington (4-3), which made just 38.2 percent of its shots from the floor (26 of 68) and 27.3 percent from 3-point range (6 of 22).

Elena Delle Donne contributed 11 points and seven rebounds to offset five turnovers for the Mystics.

Washington, which enjoyed a wire-to-wire win, was given plenty of anxious moments after mustering just 10 points in the third quarter.

“The ball stopped moving,” Mystics coach Eric Thibault said, per the Washington Post. “Thought we just had way too many possessions where we tried to force the first action and went away from things that were working for us.

“We tried to make some home-run plays up and down the roster that we didn’t need to make.”

Ezi Magbegor erupted for a season-high 24 points for the Storm (1-5), who were unable to overcome the absence of star Jewell Loyd (foot injury). Loyd is averaging a WNBA-best 28.0 points per game.

Seattle has struggled to forge a new identity following the departures of Breanna Stewart (New York) and Sue Bird (retirement).

“It’s a challenge for me because I have yet to have a team like this,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “The emphasizing, the coaching, the teaching, the reteaching of film and all of those things. Every single day matters and every single drill matters. And the repetition that this group needs is something that is cool for me, as a coach, to go through. Getting back to basics.”

Speaking of Bird, the Storm will retire her No. 10 jersey on Sunday. The 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion will join former teammate Lauren Jackson as the lone players to see their respective jersey numbers retired by the Storm.

–Field Level Media