Brittney Griner Will Return to W.N.B.A.

Brittney Griner, the basketball star who was detained in Russia for 10 months, has signed a one-year contract to continue her playing career with the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Griner became the center of a geopolitical showdown between the United States and Russia for much of 2022 after customs officials at an airport near Moscow detained her for carrying a small amount of cannabis oil in vape cartridges in her luggage.

A Russian court convicted her of drug smuggling, and in August Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. The State Department declared Griner wrongfully detained and sought a prisoner exchange for her release.

An exchange was made in December, with Griner being returned to the United States while Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who had been convicted nearly a decade earlier, was sent back to Russia.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/18/sports/basketball/brittney-griner-phoenix-mercury.html