By: Tianhao Chen

On Sunday, July 31st, the ‘Phoenix Mercury’ team was going up against the ‘Connecticut Suns’ at 7 p.m.. People were expecting the Mercury to be warming up on the court prior to tipoff, but to their surprise, no one was there.

This game was no ordinary game as Mercury teammate Brittney Griner was recently sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison and fined $16,000 USD. Her teammates were busy watching her trial, crying as they heard the verdict. Although Griner could still return to the U.S if Russia agrees to swap prisoners, the verdict was nonetheless upsetting.

While Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard said they managed to go through a warmup routine, the game didn’t feel right. Before the game began, players, coaches, and referees locked arms for 42 seconds – Griner’s jersey number, while the fans chanted in the stands for Griner to return home. The Mercury ended up losing that game 64 – 77, but they were apathetic about it.

In the postgame interview, Skylar Diggins-Smith said, “[n]obody even wanted to play today. How are we even supposed to approach the game and approach the court with a clear mind when the whole group is crying before the game?”

Griner was detained in Russia on February 17th when she was caught with hashish oil. At that time, Griner was traveling to Russia to play professional basketball. During her trial, Griner claimed that she carried the hashish oil by accident. Since her detainment, athletes have been calling for her to be released.

Griner, like many other WNBA players, often travels abroad to play basketball in other countries to earn extra income. Someone else who played in Russia was last year’s WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones. She was surprised that Griner was detained, saying that “[m]y experiences over there have been so good. Our team was top notch. They treated us like the professionals we are. We loved going over there because of that. So we just always felt safe.

We never felt like anything would ever happen. So to see it happen to one of my teammates and be so close to it and understand that it could’ve been me, it puts it into perspective.”

While the rest of Griner’s teammates are thousands of miles away from Russia, she has to stay there indefinitely. All the Mercury can do is hope she returns.

Link to Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/sports/basketball/brittney-griner-teammates.html