CNN
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After spending practically 10 months imprisoned in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner is making her return to basketball within the upcoming season, signing a one-year cope with the Phoenix Mercury, a supply with direct data informed CNN.
The 2-time Olympic gold medalist was launched in December – after spending practically 300 days in Russian custody – in a prisoner change with Russia.
And as quickly as she was again dwelling, she vowed to play within the WNBA once more.
“It feels so good to be dwelling! The final 10 months have been a battle at each flip,” she wrote in a December publish on Instagram. “I dug deep to maintain my religion and it was the love from so lots of you that helped maintain me going. From the underside of my coronary heart, thanks to everybody on your assist.”
“I additionally need to make one factor very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I stay up for with the ability to say ‘thanks’ to these of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in individual quickly,” Griner mentioned.
Griner – who for years had performed within the WNBA low season for a Russian girls’s basketball group – was arrested on drug smuggling costs at an airport within the Moscow area in February 2022. Her detention, which turned a global trigger throughout a tense time in relations between the US and Russia, was deemed wrongful by American officers.
And regardless of her testimony that she had inadvertently packed the hashish oil that was present in her baggage, she was sentenced to 9 years in jail in early August and was moved to a penal colony within the Mordovia republic in mid-November after dropping her attraction.
The 32-year-old final performed with the Mercury in 2021, serving to lead the group to the WNBA Finals, which they misplaced to the Chicago Sky.
Earlier than that, the seven-time All-Star had performed all 9 seasons with the franchise since being chosen with the No. 1 general decide within the 2013 WNBA Draft.
Phoenix are scheduled to open the season on the street towards the Los Angeles Sparks on Might 19. The group will play their first dwelling sport towards the Sky on Might 21.
CNN has reached out to Griner’s representatives and the Phoenix Mercury however didn’t instantly hear again.
