Griner’s U.S. return emotional for Dupree
Assistant ‘just happy’ ex-teammate is home
Candice Dupree was going through her normal, hectic morning routine Thursday, rushing to get her twin 5-yearold daughters ready for school before hustling to the Spurs’ practice gym in time for shootaround.
At about 7 a.m., she found she had missed a Facetime call from her sister.
“I was like, ‘Why is she calling me now?’ ” said Dupree, a Spurs assistant coach.
Dupree returned the call and got her answer in three words that were both unexpected and long-awaited: “She said, ‘Brittney’s coming home.’ ”
That would be Brittney Griner, Dupree’s friend, former WNBA teammate and a resident of a Russian prison for the past 10 months.
Early Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a prisoner exchange deal with the Russian government that would bring Griner back to American shores. As part of the deal, the United States agreed to release infamous Russian arms dealer Victor Bout.
Griner had been jailed since February, when she was arrested by Russia on charges she brought a small amount of cannabis oil into the country.
For friends and family back home, including Dupree, it set off a worry-filled wait for Griner to come home.
“You’re not thinking that 10 months later, she’s still going to be over there,” Dupree said.
Griner was detained a week to the day before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. She pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
As the U.S. government worked to secure Griner’s release, Dupree said the most difficult part of the worry was the uncertainty.
“It’s like every day, you’d think, ‘When are they going to
let her go?’ ” Dupree said. “You don’t know what’s going on. It drove you crazy. So many ups and downs.”
Dupree said she thought often of Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and her two children.
“You think, ‘What is her family feeling? What are they going through?’ ” Dupree said.
Before Thursday’s game against Houston at the AT&T Center, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich echoed the rest of the basketball world by welcoming Griner home.
“It’s joyful news for a whole lot of reasons,” Popovich said. “At the same time, having other people still being treated the way they are in so many different countries, it is still evident there is a lot of work that needs to be done to bring a lot of people home.”
In June, Rockets coach Stephen Silas participated in a “Bring Brittney Home” rally alongside Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.
“To wake up this morning and hear that news, you almost get emotional about it,” Silas said. “You think about her family, You think about the people who are closest to her. She touched so many people in the NBA and WNBA.”
Dupree was one of them. When Griner was first detained in February, Dupree went back through her text messages.
She discovered she had just exchanged texts with Griner only a few weeks before.
Griner had returned to Russia to play for a professional team during the WNBA offseason. Dupree had some direct advice for her former teammate.
“I told her to get out,” Dupree said.
Dupree spent four seasons playing in Russia herself. She was not surprised to see Russia use Griner as — in Dupree’s words — “a political pawn.”
Asked if she spent the past 10 months angry at Griner’s plight, Dupree did not hesitate.
“Absolutely,” Dupree said. “But it was not surprising. Playing over there and talking to Russian teammates on a daily basis about their culture and how their government works, I wasn’t surprised.”
Griner, now 32, and Dupree, now 38, played together with the Phoenix Mercury from 2013 to 2016.
They made the Allstar team as Mercury teammates in 2014 and won a WNBA championship together that same season.
Dupree described Griner as having, “a heart of gold.”
“I had the opportunity to play with her when she was young,” said Dupree, a 16-year WNBA veteran who made seven All-star teams and joined the Spurs’ staff as a development coach last summer. “I remember all the dinners and the long conversations.
“She’s an amazing person.”
As Dupree was at the AT&T Center on Thursday evening, warming up Spurs player in the hours before tipoff, Griner was on a plane headed to San Antonio.
Griner was slated to land at Kelly Field to be transported to Brooke Army Medical Center for evaluation.
Dupree grinned at the thought.
For the past 10 months, Griner had been thousands of miles away. At times, it felt like the distance might as well have been light-years.
By late Thursday night, Griner had arrived at BAMC, 4½ miles away from the Spurs’ home arena.
“It would be awesome if I could check in,” Dupree said. “At some point, I’ll reach out. We’re just glad to have her home.”