Brittney Griner Vows to Never Play Overseas Again Unless for Olympics After Detainment in Russia

WNBA star Brittney Griner said on a Thursday news conference travel abroad again "to play basketball" unless she will be representing the U.S. in the Olympics. Griner was detained in Russia for about 10 months before being freed through a prisoner exchange.

The WNBA player noted that many women's players go overseas for the pay, adding that she will not be criticizing anyone for doing that. However, she added that she hopes that the WNBA will continue to grow and make room for changes.

Griner told reporters that the only time that she will leave the United States will be when she makes it to the U.S. team, and "that's just to represent the USA," as reported by CNN.

The 32-year-old player expressed her thanks to the media, saying that the media coverage and exposure helped her get back to the United States when she was detained in Russia.

She then went on to say that she was not a "stranger to hard times" and all she did was to keep going and moving forward.

Griner said that the knowledge that people were fighting for her release made her "a little bit more comfortable" and hopeful despite the delay in getting the news.

Brittney Griner Partnership With 'Bring Out Families Home'

ESPN noted that Griner and Phoenix Mercury announced on Thursday a partnership with the "Bring Our Families Home" organization.

The group currently champions the rights of Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained in other countries, noting that there are currently 54 Americans imprisoned in seven other countries.

BOFH noted that some of those 54 Americans have been held for more than a decade.

The partnership would mean that the Mercury will have a BOFH logo on their court for home games, which would then replace the BG42 logo the team had last season during Griner's detainment.

Aside from incorporating the logo on the team's home court games, the Mercury will also host families and friends of detainees and have letter-writing stations for fans to write to detainees and advocate for them.

Brittney Griner Detainment in Russia

Griner was detained on February 17, 2022, after Russian authorities accused the WNBA player of carrying hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.

She was traveling at the time to rejoin her professional team, UMMC Yekaterinburg, which she played for during the WNBA off-season, according to The New York Times.

The State Department noted months after her imprisonment that Griner had been "wrongfully detained."

Officials in the U.S. have repeatedly accused Russia of detaining U.S. citizens under doubtful pretexts.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration tried for months to strike a deal with Russia to free Griner.

In June, the U.S. offered to trade Viktor Bout for Griner and another American, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

Bout is a Russian arms dealer, who has earned the moniker "the Merchant of Death." He had been serving a 25-year prison sentence after he tried to sell weapons to people who said they intend to kill Americans.

However, Whelan was not included in the prisoner exchange in the end. He is one of the Americans detained in Russia, including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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