Brittney Griner.Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty
Brittney Grineris heading back to the WNBA.
After the 32-year-old basketball playerspent nearly ten months in a Russian prisonafter beingdetained for allegedly smuggling “narcotic drugs” into the countrylast February,ESPN reportsthat the free agent is returning to the Phoenix Mercury under a one-year, $165,100 contract.
“I also want to make one thing very clear,” Grinerwrotein an a lengthy Instagram post. “I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season.”
Brittney Griner playing basketball for the first time since her release.Miguel Negron/U.S. Army West
Griner continued: “And in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.”
That month, sheparticipated in her first basketball workout, with her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, telling ESPN at the time that she would take the holiday season to contemplate her next steps.
“There’s no timeline on her return at this point,“Colas told ESPN. “She’s reintegrating into a world that has changed for her now. From a pure security standpoint, she’s not going to be able to move in the world the way she did.”
Colas toldESPN, “If she wants to play, it will be for her to share. She has the holidays to decide what’s next without any pressure. She’s doing really, really well. She seems to have endured this in pretty incredible ways.”
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert echoed the same sentiments duringNBA All-Star Weekend, after she was able to meet with Griner in person.
RELATED VIDE: Brittney Griner Lands in U.S. After Russian Prison Release: ‘Welcome Home BG!’
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“I met with her in Phoenix,” Engelbert told Poppy Harlow today onCNN This Morningahead ofNBA All-Star Weekend. “Britney is doing remarkably well, and she’sstarting to train. We’re so excited to have her back in the league after an awful ordeal.”
The Phoenix Mercury will begin their season on the road next year, taking on the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19.
source: people.com
