Brittney Griner to return to WNBA
For the first time since 2021, Brittney Griner will be back on the hardwood for the Phoenix Mercury when the WNBA season kicks off in May.
But it won’t be at home. Her first game is on the road, facing the Los Angeles Sparks. Griner, who regained her freedom in December 2022 in a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, signed a one year contract on Saturday worth $165,100, according to ESPN.
The 32-year-old missed the entire 2022 season following her arrest in Moscow one year ago. Russian authorities said she broke their law by packing vape canisters with cabbabis oil in her luggage.
In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony for drug smuggling, and that sentence was upheld upon appeal in October. “Following a sham trial and the unjust sentencing of Brittney Griner, Moscow is transferring her from a prison in Moscow to a remote penal colony,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken back in November. “It is another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.” After months of negotiations and protests led by her wife, Cherelle, and advocacy groups including the National LGBTQ Task Force, the WNBA star was exchanged in the United Arab Emirates for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
