Anti-American jailbird Brittney Griner is signing a one-year contract with her old team the Phoenix Mercury in a move that is sure to fire up the 15 people in the fanbase. The disgraced former WNBA star returned back to her hated country in December after almost a year in a Russian prison for smuggling hashish oil into the country, a big no-no in Russia. Now she is set to resume running slowly and creating no excitement for the WNBA. Check this out.
Basketball star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner re-signed to the Phoenix Mercury for one year, NBC News confirmed.
A statement officially announcing the signing is expected on Tuesday, according to a source close to Griner.
The athlete has played for the Mercury her entire WNBA career, which started in 2013. She missed the full 2022 season while imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months, according to WNBA.com.
Griner previously said she intended to play in the 2023 season. This move puts to bed any doubt about the team.
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
Good news for WNBA and Phoenix Mercury fans. The Mercury also signed all time WNBA leading scorer Dianna Taurasi, ostensibly in an attempt to lure more fans to the already sparsely populated stands. The addition of Griner should bump attendance into the hundreds just on the curiosity factor alone. Adding a legend like Taurasi, who is still a dominant player should make the Phoenix a title contender, and perhaps lead the league in attendance.
Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony in December after the Biden administration negotiated her release in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.
She was arrested in February 2022 at a Moscow airport for allegedly arriving in the country with vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage, according to Russian authorities. Griner pleaded guilty at her trial in July but said she had no criminal intent. The canisters, which she had been prescribed to treat chronic pain, were packed inadvertently as she hurriedly prepared for her flight, she said.
In her first comments after she was freed in the prisoner exchange, Griner wrote on Instagram that being in Russian custody for almost 10 months was an emotional battle.
“I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going,” Griner wrote. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
It is also believed, but unconfirmed that Viktor Bout is also rejoining his former team as he attempts to reclaim his “Merchant of Death” title the United States stripped from him when they imprisoned him in 2012. Now like Griner, Bout is free to resume a career interrupted by a foreign government thanks to Joe Biden. Hopefully Griner has a more favorable view of her awful, oppressive home country after her year-long vacation in the former Soviet Union.
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