Brittney Griner, the basketball star who has been detained in Russia for 10 months, has signed a one-year contract to continue his playing career with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, according to a person with knowledge of the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity. name.
Griner became the focus of a geopolitical spat between the United States and Russia for much of 2022 after customs officials at an airport near Moscow arrested her for carrying a small amount of cannabis oil in a vape can. luggage.
A Russian court convicted her of drug trafficking, and in August Griner was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. The State Department claimed Griner was wrongfully detained and sought a prisoner exchange to free her.
An exchange was made in December, with Griner being returned to the United States while Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who had been convicted nearly a decade earlier, was sent back to Russia.
In one Instagram After her release, Griner pledged that she would work to free other Americans who had been falsely declared incarcerated and that she planned to play the WNBA again.
Griner last played at the WNBA in 2021, producing one of the best campaigns of her career averaging 20.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 saves. Phoenix opens the season with the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19.
Tania Ganguli contribution report.
