Brittney Griner finally returned to the United States in December 2021. The Russian government detained her for 10 months in the country. She was arrested in February 2022 after officials caught her with marijuana at an airport. Brittney pleaded guilty to those charges and claimed that she was not aware of the substance being illegal in Russia. However, that did not stop the European country from keeping her in prison.
Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner.
She is safe.
She is on a plane.
She is on her way home. pic.twitter.com/FmHgfzrcDT— President Biden (@POTUS) December 8, 2022
The US government agreed to a prisoner swap in the end, which saw former arms dealer Viktor Bout go the other way. This did not sit well with Americans, who raised ex-US marine Paul Whelan’s name as well. Along with that, some even claimed that Brittney should have never been swapped for an arms dealer, and slammed her. Since her release in December, BG has not made many public appearances. She was recently spotted at the Super Bowl, which didn’t go down too well with fans as well. With that said, her return to the WNBA is most-awaited.
When will Brittney Griner return to the WNBA?
Brittney has been to the basketball court after returning to the US. Her agent said that only Griner would be able to decide when she would play in the WNBA again. With that said, fans would be delighted to know that Brittney has recently signed a new 1-year contract with the Phoenix Mercury. According to spotrac, it’s worth about $165,100. This means Brittney will be a Mercury player for the 2023-24 WNBA season. It is highly likely that Griner makes an appearance for the Mercury at the start of the season.
Breaking: Brittney Griner has signed a one-year deal with the Phoenix Mercury, sources confirmed to ESPN.
More: https://t.co/3gTiF8hYYu pic.twitter.com/3Orh4igTX8
— ESPN (@espn) February 18, 2023
For those who don’t know, Griner was a free agent for the last few months. Previously, she was on a 3-year contract with the Mercury, which ended in 2022, while she was in prison. That deal was worth about $664,544 and was her second deal with the Mercury. The franchise drafted Brittney at #1 at the 2013 WNBA Draft and she has not looked back ever since.
Griner bagged a WNBA title with the team, along with 8 WNBA All-Star appearances and 2 WNBA scoring titles. Her accolades speak at length how big of a superstar Brittney is, and how the world is eager for her to set foot on the court once again.