Caitlin Clark, Fever embrace WNBA's approval of charter flights - ESPN

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark already is one of the WNBA's most recognizable players.

So when she made her first road trip last week, the league's first overall draft pick had to adapt. Instead of loading her bag directly onto a plane and boarding, Clark found herself traversing the same lines and waits as everyone else at a Dallas airport — just like most of the league's players.

It's a hassle she wouldn't mind avoiding on future trips, and now league commissioner Cathy Engelbert is working on a solution.

One day after Engelbert told a group of sports editors that she's trying to find regular charter flights for all 12 WNBA teams, Clark and her new teammates embraced the move.

«I think you just have to be aware of where you are,» Clark said after Wednesday's practice. «You travel with security, which is nice. It's just different from college where you put your bag on the plane, hop on the plane and then you're off. But like [here] you're waiting at baggage claim, you've got to go through the normal security with everybody else. For me, it was my first time doing it. It wasn't terrible. I just went about my business and kept my head down.»

Clark went on to score 21 points in her pro debut, a 79-76 loss.

But her star power has only fueled a debate that took center stage last season when Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was confronted by a man who started asking questions as she walked through an airport. The incident became so heated that the man was tackled and law enforcement was called.

League officials called the man's actions «inappropriate» and «unfortunate.»

It spurred a leaguewide debate over player safety, with some veteran stars asking that league officials do more, including finding charter flights.