During her guilty plea, Greiner said she made an “honest mistake” and didn’t realize the vape cartridges were in her bag. I have played for the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg during WNBA seasons.
Mercury Griner, 32, has signed a one-year, $165,100 contract. at HerHoopsStats.com, though the deal was not announced until Saturday evening. She missed the 2022 season but averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 2021 while helping the Mercury to the WNBA Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Sky in four games. She has spent her entire WNBA career with Mercury, making her the #1 draft pick in 2013 and capturing the WNBA title a year later.
The signing bolsters the Mercury roster — guard Diana Taurasi signed Saturday to spend the 19 season with Phoenix. The 40-year-old is the league’s all-time leading scorer, but the end of her career is nigh. However, Mercury brings back cores from Taurasi, Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Sophie Cunningham.
Griner’s return highlighted the WNBA’s traveling methods; After being detained in Russia, it is expected that she will need to take special flights for security reasons. WNBA rules do not allow teams to charter private flights, which is a point of contention for the players’ union. President Biden also came under harsh criticism for releasing Butt, who was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 for supporting terrorism and plotting to kill Americans.
“That character has been revealed through hardship, and over the past nine months we’ve seen the best of many,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said in a statement after her release. At the top of that list is BG and President Biden. Throughout this ordeal, BG has carried herself with courage, grace, and tenacity; And President Biden made us a promise, then kept his word and did what was necessary to bring her home. We are forever grateful for his follow through on this commitment.”
Griner became a household name while she was incarcerated. WNBA players did what they could to keep her in the news, urging Biden to bring her home and counting the days she was held captive. The basketball community celebrated her release two months ago, and now she’s in line to get back on the court this spring.
“I was fortunate enough to be around PJ both in basketball and social settings and loved being around her,” Washington Mystics general manager Mike Thibault said after her release. “Her energy and zest for life always stood out, and it is so wonderful to know that she is free of this nightmare and will be reunited with her wife, family and friends.”
