Griner’s return to Mercury brings out online critics
One would like to think that an innocuous 10-second TikTok video by Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner welcoming fans back for the coming season would not be anything more than intended.
But that’s not how social media works.
Comments to the video attacking Griner were deemed “vile” by the team, which then put out a social media response of its own defending her and WNBA players in general.
The subject came up Thursday during Mercury media day with Griner admitting that she is not immune to social media criticism about her height, deep voice, sexuality or other stones some continue to hurl at her.
“I’m human,” Griner said. “For the most part I do good with (ignoring) it then I have my moments where it’s it gets to me. Sometimes I have a little back and forth with somebody on Instagram that is super over-entitled or doesn’t know anything about our league or me.
“Everybody always has opinions, and I’m all for opinions. It’s sometimes how they attack or league and us as women playing basketball is just rude and disheartening.”
The 6-foot-9 Griner, 30, is going into her ninth WNBA season, all with the Mercury. She played only 12 games last season before leaving the league bubble in Bradenton, Florida, and in February spoke about receiving mental health counseling before returning to basketball overseas with UMMC Ekaterinburg.
“It helped big time,” Griner said. “I didn’t go overseas until January either so just having that my first break since college. It’s always been go, go, go. I hate that it had to come in the middle of the season last year, but it was such a good reset at that time for me to be able to breathe and rest and get myself together fully, not rushed trying to do it.”
After winning EuroLeague and Russian League titles, Griner is happy to be back with the Mercury to the point of wishing Thursday wasn’t a day off from practice due to the media obligations. This also is an Olympic year due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games, and Griner is expected to be part of her second U.S. team, which will be vying for a seventh consecutive gold medal.
Mercury teammates Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith also are U.S. Olympic candidates, and Phoenix also expects to have players representing France (Bria Hartley), Canada (Kia Nurse) and Australia (Alanna Smith, Sara Blicavs). All of which should add up to a WNBA title contending team.
“I have a huge burn underneath my ass because I didn’t get to play in the final game,” of the 2014 WNBA Finals due to a detached retina, Griner said. “I want to get back to the Finals and play in the very last game and win.”
“There’s no question we’re a better team when she is here,” Taurasi said. “We just have to become a more balanced team then we have a much better chance of getting to where we want to go. We all know what BG can do. When she comes here focused and ready to go, she’s the most unstoppable force in our game. She looks amazing off her Russian season. She looks strong and fit. It’s up to BG what she wants to do. When she’s on her game, she makes us one of the best teams in the league.”
As for the social media noise, Taurasi offer this advice.
“I don’t really live in that world so I couldn’t really care less what people have to say. When it comes to BG, she’s been battling that her whole life, and she’s handled it in such a great way,” Taurasi said.
“You can’t care so much what a stranger has to say. That’s how I approach things. I really only care about what my family cares about me, my teammates, my close friends. If you start worrying about what everybody has to say about you then you’re going to be living a very hard life. I just never lived in that realm and I could care less.”