Brittney Griner returns to the WNBA with a weekend of celebration

PHOENIX – The public address announcer paused before introducing the last player in Mercury’s starting lineup on Sunday. Skylar Gray’s song “Coming Home” started playing, and then Brittney Griner appeared on a red carpet with tall video screens behind her, an entrance befitting a rock star.

It was Griner’s first home regular season game since 2021. She missed last season as she was trapped in Russia, embroiled in a geopolitical confrontation between Washington and Moscow. But on Sunday, minutes before her team faced the Chicago Sky, Griner stood with her arms crossed in an “X” in front of her chest to acknowledge the Mercury fan base, nicknamed the X Factor. Then she ran down the red carpet onto the runway.

Griner hugged the Sky starters at half lane and wiped away tears as she put on her shorts, smashed her jersey and prepared for the tip. She scored the first 3 points of the game, boosting the thousands of fans who came to watch her.

“Part of the healing process is just letting it out,” Griner said. “So yeah, I kind of choked, but tried to hide it.”

Sunday’s game against the Sky concluded Griner’s first weekend back in the WNBA, which began Friday with a game against the Sparks in Los Angeles. The Mercury lost both games, though each one felt more like a party or an All-Star Game where the final score doesn’t really matter.

“It’s a day of joy,” said Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard before Friday’s game, adding, “We brought this woman – this black, gay woman – back from a Russian prison, and America did it because she appreciated.”

Customs officials at an airport near Moscow detained Griner in February 2022 after finding a small amount of marijuana concentrate in vape cartridges in her luggage. The US State Department said she had been wrongfully detained, but was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner was released in December as part of a prisoner exchange for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer nicknamed the Merchant of Death.

A week after her release, Griner made her first public statement on Instagram, saying she intended to play for the Mercury.

“I look forward to saying ‘thank you’ soon to those of you who have personally advocated, written and posted for me,” she said. On Sunday, the Mercury gave fans orange T-shirts with that message written in an outline of Griner’s face.

When Griner made that statement, after nearly 10 months in Russian custody, it seemed far-fetched that she could return to court so quickly. During her imprisonment, she was not allowed to play basketball. She was arguably the best player at her position when she last played; even if she did return, it seemed unlikely she would be able to get back into that shape any time soon.

But during her first two games, Griner put those questions to rest. She and her teammates have acknowledged that she is not yet the player she once was, but Griner performed as Mercury’s best player during their first two games. She led the team in points and rebounds over the two losses, averaging 22.5 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks.

“At All-Star, I hope to be exactly where I want to be,” Griner told Sparks after the game. “You know, not having to limit my minutes, just being able to play – I’m going to regret this, but – being able to play 40 minutes. Let’s go back to what I used to be.”

Prior to Friday’s game, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed both teams in their locker rooms and thanked them for supporting the campaign to bring Griner back to the United States.

“You have inspired so many people” Harris said, adding: “And for you to be back on the field, it is so incredible. And for all the people who are like us and need to know that nothing will bring you down – that’s good.

Griner has shared few details about her imprisonment in Russia. At her first press conference last month, Mercury staff said she wouldn’t talk about Russia, and on Friday she winked and told a reporter she would elaborate in her book, citing a memoir due out next spring.

But the effect of her time in Russia is clear in one respect: when the national anthem plays, Griner is standing next to her teammates.

For some time before her detention in Russia, Griner had chosen not to participate in the national anthem due to anti-black racism in the United States. But she said the fact that she couldn’t comfortably stand up straight in prison changed her view of standing for the national anthem. Still, she said she supports players who are not for the national anthem.

“One of the good things about the country is that you have the right to protest,” she said. “You have a right to express your opinion, to speak up, ask questions, challenge and do all these things. And you know what I’ve been through, and everything just means a little more to me now.

In Los Angeles, several celebrities and athletes came to watch the game and support Griner, including Magic Johnson, Dawn Staley, Billie Jean King, Pau Gasol, Darvin Ham and Leslie Jones. Staley, who sat next to the court next to Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, on the Mercury bench, laughed and joked with Brittney during the final minutes of the game.

But even with the celebrity-laden crowd, the arena, which was packed with 10,396 fans, seemed to lack the energy expected for Griner’s return, which bothered her coach.

“Honestly come on, LA We didn’t sell out the arena for BG? Like, I expected more, to be honest,” Nygaard said. “It was great. It was loud. But why wasn’t it a sale?”

The game was scheduled to start at 11 p.m. Eastern, but started about 20 minutes later and was pushed to ESPN2 when an NHL playoff game on ESPN went into overtime. The late – and delayed – start seemed like a missed opportunity for such an important moment. WNBA. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the decision to be Griner’s first game on the road and start so late was made before the league knew she would be back.

In Phoenix on Sunday, Mercury fans welcomed Griner with a huge crowd: 14,040 people. It wasn’t a sellout, but from the get-go it brought an energy to the audience that was missing in Los Angeles.

The loudest moment of the night, aside from the introductions, came in the third quarter when Griner made a three-pointer, rare for a center. She waved her hands and shouted to the crowd.

“I’m back,” yelled Griner as she patted her chest.