Brittney Griner was all smiles as she returned to the basketball court a year after she was arrested and thrown in a Russian prison.
The 32-year-old WNBA star beamed as she shot hoops just days after she re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury on a one-year contract. The season starts in May.
Griner had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from her 10-month ordeal in Russia.
Griner had been arrested at an airport just outside of Moscow on drug possession charges a year ago and was brought home in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange in December.
Brittney Griner, 32, was all smiles as she returned to the basketball court a year after she was arrested and thrown in a Russian prison
Griner wrote on a whiteboard in the Mercury locker room that reads: ‘I’M BACK MF!!’
Griner had been arrested at an airport just outside of Moscow on drug possession charges a year ago and was brought home in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange in December
The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.
Photos of the star were posted to the team’s social media platforms this week.
Griner grins in one of the photos as she prepares to shoot the ball on the court.
Another photo shows a note written by Griner on a whiteboard in the Mercury locker room that reads: ‘I’M BACK MF!!’
The signing of the one-year contract, which is reportedly worth $165,100, was confirmed on Tuesday.
‘It’s a great day for all of us to announce that Brittney Griner has officially signed to play for the Mercury in 2023,’ Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said.
‘We will continue to use the resources of our organization to support her, on and off the floor, and we are thrilled for her that she gets to return to basketball, which she loves so dearly. This is a special signing and today is a special day for all of us.’
Griner has not played for the Mercury since 2021, when she led Phoenix to the WNBA Finals before losing to the Chicago Sky.
The former Baylor star was released from a Russian penal colony in December after being acquired in a US-Russian prisoner swap form convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner, who had played professionally in Russia since 2014, was returning to the country in February when she was stopped at the Moscow airport with what authorities claimed to be vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
Brittney Griner has completed her return to Phoenix Mercury, WNBA team confirmed Tuesday
Griner hugs her wife after returning to US from Russia by way of the United Arab Emirates
Griner arrived at Kelly Field in San Antonio following her release in prisoner swap in December
Griner was returning to Russia in February when she was stopped at the Moscow airport with what authorities claimed to be vape cartridges containing cannabis oil
Griner sits inside a defendants’ cage after the court’s verdict outside Moscow in August
Ultimately Griner was convicted in August and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. A subsequent appeal was denied in October.
She had been assigned to a penal colony in Mordovia, a region known for its brutal prison system, until the Biden administration was able to secure her release earlier his month. She was detained in Russia for 10 months.
‘President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too,’ she said in December.
‘I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole.’
The Biden administration negotiated with the Kremlin for months to get Griner and Whelan back from Russia, but only managed to get the WNBA star in exchange for Bout.
‘I do not think any of us will forget where we were on December 8 when we heard BG was coming home or on December 15 when she announced she intended not only to play basketball in 2023 but that it would be for the Mercury,’ Mercury president of business operations Vince Kozar added on Tuesday.
‘And I know none of us will ever forget what it will feel like to welcome her back onto her home floor on May 21.
‘To know BG is to love and appreciate BG, and we can’t wait to show her that in person with thousands and thousands of her biggest supporters exactly three months from today at our Welcome Home Opener.’
Since her return from a Russian penal colony, where she was imprisoned on drug charges, Griner was seen with her wife Cherelle at Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona
Griner has not played for the Mercury since 2021, when she led Phoenix to the WNBA Finals
Griner is seen being escorted before a verdict in her trial in August in Russia
Biden meets Cherelle Griner about the release of her wife Brittney Griner, in the Oval Office.
The Phoenix Mercury posted in December 2022: ‘One week ago today, our family became whole again.’ Diana Taurasi, who was signed to a multiyear contract on Saturday, and the Mercury management team waited for Griner to arrive home
Griner and Bout crossed paths on a tarmac in the United Arab Emirates to complete the trade. Bout, referred to by some as the ‘Merchant of Death,’ was arrested on terrorism charges in 2008 and later convicted in the US.
The deal has drawn criticism from Republicans, who were upset that the White House failed to get Whelan as well.
In response to attacks from the right, White House officials acknowledged prisoner swaps are costly, adding that they felt compelled to bring Griner home while they had the chance.
The 6-foot-9 Griner is an eight-time All-Star in the US and one of only 11 players to win an Olympic gold medal, FIBA World Cup gold medal, WNBA title, and an NCAA title, which she captured at Baylor in 2012.
Griner, who was drafted No. 1 in 2013 by the Mercury, was listed Saturday on Phoenix’s roster on the WNBA website.
Since returning home from Russia, Griner has been out of the public spotlight, with the exception of appearances at the Super Bowl, the Phoenix Open and an MLK Day event in Phoenix, where she lives.
Earlier Saturday, the Mercury signed Diana Taurasi to a multiyear contract. The WNBA’s all-time leading scorer has only played with the Mercury since being drafted No. 1 by the team in 2004.
