Sparks: Griner ‘should be home’
TORRANCE » The Sparks’ preseason game Saturday against the Phoenix Mercury at Cal State Northridge felt mighty strange.
Phoenix’s recognizable star Brittney Griner, so heavy on players’ minds, remained in Russian custody after being arrested in February at an airport outside Moscow.
“We had our practice game against Phoenix on the weekend, and that’s where I get to see my big girl, and it was really tough not seeing her,” Sparks center Liz Cambage said after practice Tuesday at Jump Beyond Sports.
“I know it’s weighing on those girls the most, the Mercury girls, but I know people behind closed doors are working hard to bring her home.”
Authorities in Russia allege the 31-year-old Griner illegally brought vape cartridges containing hashish oil into the country. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and the Mercury’s seven-time All-Star center was stopped as she was returning to compete for the Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg, for which she’s played during the WNBA’s offseason for the past seven winters, earning reportedly $1 million per season, more than quadruple her WNBA salary.
Griner’s alleged crime reportedly could carry a prison sentence of as many as 10 years – though she has not been formally charged and is scheduled to have another court hearing on May 19.
On Tuesday, the WNBA shared plans to honor Griner and keep her plight in the forefront of people’s thoughts: All 12 teams’ courts will display her initials and jersey No. 42 along the sideline this season, which begins Friday.
The league also said that it granted Phoenix roster and salary cap relief so that it can carry a replacement player until Griner – who will be paid her full WNBA salary – returns and can rejoin her teammates at play. Moreover, every WNBA market has plans to support “BG’s Heart and Sole Shoe Drive,” an initiative Griner started in 2016 in partnership with the Phoenix Rescue Mission.
The league’s announcements came Tuesday morning, shortly after ESPN reported that the U.S. government now considers Griner to be “wrongfully detained.” That official designation reportedly indicates that instead of waiting for her case to proceed through the Russian legal system, the U.S. will take more aggressive steps to negotiate her release.
That news came a week after the release of former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed – who had been held in Russia since August 2019 – in a prisoner swap with Russia.
“To have that wrongfully detained designation now allows us to hopefully really prioritize it so she can come home,” Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike said. “She should be home, she should be here, she should be playing.
“It’s been really difficult for us because we are all close to BG. This is the cool thing about 144 (the maximum number of WNBA players in the league at one time). We all know each other really well, we’re all sort of teammates at some time, whether at home or abroad.
“We just played Phoenix,” Ogwumike continued. “And we look forward to seeing each other. So it was bittersweet to be able to play and also miss her at the same time. So I’m glad that her representatives and the U.S. government have now, hopefully, prioritized this so she can get back as soon as possible.”
Before Tuesday, the WNBA and its players, typically so eager to mobilize around causes meaningful to them, remained relatively, intentionally mum in regard to Griner.
Considering heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, her WNBA colleagues haven’t wanted to do anything that might jeopardize Griner’s chances of returning to the U.S., explained Nneka Ogwumike – the Sparks’ star forward and the president of the WNBPA Players’ Association – in an April 12 appearance on “Good Morning America.”
But following the government’s updated designation, Chiney Ogwumike said she expects players to be more vocal in their support for Griner.
“I think so, just to let people know that we’ve been trusting the voices as one, that are experts,” she said. “And now we can be a little bit louder. This matters to us, individually; this matters to us collectively; and it won’t stop mattering until she’s back home.”
Or as Nneka Ogwumike tweeted: “It has been 75 days that our friend, teammate, sister, Brittney Griner, has been wrongfully detained in Russia. It is time for her to come home.
“Having learned that the U.S. government has now determined that BG is being wrongfully detained, we are hopeful that their efforts will be significant, swift and successful.
“#WeAreBG.”