FINDING COMFORT IN HER OWN SKIN
Griner enjoying new life as face of WNBA, role model
PHOENIX At a downtown tattoo parlor, Brittney Griner is cautiously picking out her next choice of body ink.
“I’m getting this next one on my neck,” says Griner, showing off a wide array of current tattoos decorating her upper body.
As the tattoo artist shows Griner a sketch, the 6-8 basketball star calls her girlfriend over for approval. Once she gets the OK, Griner slips into her goofball persona.
“I might get my next tattoos on my eyelids,” she says, smirking.
Thirty minutes before a doctor’s appointment to determine the status of a left knee sprain that kept Griner out of her fourth professional game, the 22-year-old is constantly joking and smiling.
Since being selected by the Phoenix Mercury as the top pick in April’s WNBA draft, Griner is getting a chance to do something that’s eluded her for so long. She’s finally free to be herself. “My life is definitely different than it was in college,” Griner says. “I love the freedom that comes with being an adult. No one’s telling you what to do. Nothing ’s planned out. You know what you have to do. You can get to practice two hours before or walk in at the last second.”
Most of Griner’s body art has meaning: One is dedicated to her brother, DeCarlo, who inspired her to consider tattoos. “I want to get the full sleeve like he has,” she says. Another is the double-linked female sign that represents Griner’s sexuality. On the lower right side of her back, she has a tattoo featuring two sculls with the words, “laugh now, cry later,” a phrase she turned to during her most difficult time.
Griner is no longer sporting long sleeves when she plays to cover up her tattoos as she did at Baylor. She’s done hiding — on and off the court.
“There’s something to be said about being comfortable in your own skin,” Mercury teammate and
10-year WNBA veteran Diana Taurasi says. “She’s not trying to be anyone she’s not. She’s not trying to be an actress. She’s not trying to be a rapper. She’s Brittney Griner, who plays basketball at the highest level.
“She’s really re-energized the WNBA and revived the whole city (of Phoenix) with women’s basketball.”
CHANGING THE LEAGUE
On the court, Griner is a shot-blocking, dunking, emotional superstar. Off it, she’s an active longboarder, listens to Jimi Hendrix before games and Trace Adkins after, will soon be wearing clothes branded for men as part of a multiyear endorsement deal with Nike and has two pet snakes, Audii and Sage.
Griner’s formula of openness gives the league, in many ways still seeking an identity with the American public, a star who’s highly unpredictable yet uniquely marketable.
“I think you’re seeing more guys who are basketball fans purchasing tickets and watching WNBA games because of Brittney,” says Mercury owner Robert Sarver, who also owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
Val Ackerman, the WNBA’s founding president and a former president of USA Basketball, says, “She’s certainly a once-in-a-generation type of player, and she has the opportunity to elevate the visibility of the WNBA in a completely new way. Fans of today are more interested in the story behind an athlete.
“The fact that Brittney embraces who she is can only help the game. ... We’re seeing a star player making a stand, and we haven’t always seen that in the league.”
Griner offers a brand of athleticism never before seen in the WNBA. In the Mercury’s season-opening game against the Chicago Sky — Griner’s first WNBA game — she threw down two power dunks in what was the most-viewed WNBA game on ESPN2 in nine years.
“Before games, I’ll have fans wearing the opponents’ attire and they’ll be like, ‘I came to watch you dunk.’ And I’m like, ‘So you came to see me dunk on your team, basically?’ That’s cool,” says Griner, who considers defense and shot-blocking her biggest strengths.
“There’s a lot of expectations; I get that. There’s a lot of, ‘She has to change the league.’ But I just feel like if I play ball the way I know how, I can help make the league more exciting.”
The Mercury started the season 0-3 despite being picked as the favorite to win the WNBA title in 2013, showing that Griner’s impact on the game won’t simply happen overnight.
“As far as changing the game, how the game is played, I don’t see that,” New York Liberty coach and former NBA big man Bill Laimbeer says. “No one player can completely change the league. ... Guards dictate it. Even Wilt (Chamberlain) only won (two championships).”
Griner’s two effortless slams set a record for dunks in a WNBA game and tied a league record for dunks in a career. And that came after she made 18 dunks at Baylor.
Still, dunking is only part of Griner’s game.
“She gives so much more than dunks to the game,” Mercury coach Corey Gaines says. “She runs like a deer in transition. Her shot-blocking ability is so huge. But it’s going to take time for her to adjust and
“As far as changing the game, how the game is played, I don’t see that. No one player can completely change the league. ... Guards dictate it. Even Wilt (Chamberlain) only won (two championships).”
Bill Laimbeer, Liberty coach
dominate. ... In time, she’ll change the game. She already has. There’s a three-second rule on defense this season that I don’t think is a coincidence.”
Taurasi has taken a mentoring role, teaching Griner the intricacies of the pick-and-roll, which she had never run before.
“I think it’s incredible for her to come in as the most popular and marketed player, and she walks into the locker room ready to work like everybody else,” Taurasi says.
After the season, like most WNBA players, Griner plans to continue playing overseas. She signed a multiyear deal with Zhejiang Chouzhou of China.
She also plans to suit up for the U.S. national team, something she didn’t do in college. Griner told USA TODAY Sports it was definitely a goal to play in the 2016 Olympics after passing on the 2012 team for family reasons.
As the WNBA pushes its new star further into the spotlight, Griner has slowly been answering the question: Who is Brittney Griner?
“Most athletes act all unhuman and you can’t relate to them. I’m the exact opposite,” Griner says.
Over the course of a two-day interview with USA TODAY Sports, Griner recalled a time when there were more tears than smiles. Growing up, she was the victim of bullying. The name calling still resonates, and she still endures online jabs questioning her femininity, among other things.
“The bullying I dealt with as a child was very tough. It kind of shaped who I am now,” Griner says. “Those people would say their mean things, ignorant things, and go about their business and have a great day while I’d be sitting there crying, hating everything, not wanting to be around. You’ve got to brush it off. Now, I can relate to a younger crowd or anyone who’s gone through bullying.
“You’ve got to smile in everyone’s face, even if you’re crying on the inside.”
COMING OUT
Part of Griner’s transition into being herself came with being open about her sexuality.
In April, Griner revealed she is gay, an announcement Griner says was an easy decision when she considered the large number of people her message could reach.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘ Why do you need to say you’re gay? Keep your personal life to yourself.’ I say to them, ‘What about the kids who need someone to look up to?’ ...
“Just knowing that you can help somebody out, that’s a feeling you can’t express.”
In a story in ESPN The Magazine, Griner said she kept her sexuality a secret at Baylor, claiming coach Kim Mulkey insinuated it would hinder recruiting and the program’s image.
“Look, Brittney wasn’t able to be Brittney at Baylor,” Taurasi says. “That happens all over America. We all feel that way, like your program is more important when you’re at that age. But in reality, without her, who gives a (expletive) about Baylor?”
Mulkey issued a statement to USA TODAY Sports about the ESPN report and Taurasi’s comments saying she couldn’t comment on Griner’s personal matters.
Griner has received positive and negative feedback for her choice to be open with her sexuality, a choice that coincided with Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay NBA player.
“He was very brave to step out like that,” Griner says of Collins. “By him coming out, hopefully others will come out as well. … I hope it gets to the point where the reaction to being gay is, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ where it’s just another thing.”
Griner said it was “kind of obvious” when she came out to family members and started dating in high school.
In her freshman year at Baylor, she described having “the worst breakup” of her life.
Griner’s current girlfriend was present during her USA TODAY Sports interview. For privacy concerns, Griner asked that her name be kept out of the story.
“She’s different than anyone I’ve ever dated,” Griner says. “I’m a rebel. I buck the system a little bit. She’s like the complete opposite — good girl with no confrontation. It’s everything that we need to help balance each other out.”
CELEBRITY LIFESTYLE
Driving to a walk-through practice in the truck she bought after being drafted, Griner is complaining about the traffic and apologizes to her passengers. “I have road rage,” she says, tapping her size-18 shoe on the gas once there’s an open road.
Walking up to US Airways Center, home of the Suns and Mercury, she is easily identifiable — not necessarily for her tall and slender frame, but because a 75-foot banner of Griner drapes down the side of Hotel Palomar.
“Just going to Walmart, it’s like autograph land,” Griner says. “There’s no running to get a gallon of milk anymore.”
Griner says she’s never turned down an autograph, knowing how much those five seconds mean to fans.
“I want my daughter looking up to her,” says Terri Thomas, a longtime Mercury season ticketholder.
A least one person thinks she knows the answer to “Who is Brittney Griner?”
“She’s my hero,” 8-year-old Sarah Thomas said, “because she’s confident with who she is.”