Brittney Griner on playing for Team USA after kneeling during anthem, Russian imprisonment: 'Means everything'

Caitlin Clark lead the Team WNBA to a victory over Team USA with 10 assists. Colin Cowherd says that Women’s Basketball is not ready for Clark, and that she should have been on the Women's Olympic roster.

Brittney Griner is no stranger to wearing Team USA across her basketball jersey in the Olympics, but a more reflective player heads to Paris considering what she’s been through since the 2020 Toyko Games. 

Griner, a two-time gold medalist for the U.S., was in Russian prison two years ago after being sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling after the Federal Customs Service found her traveling with vape cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil, which is illegal in Russia. 

Griner would later be set free in a high-profile prisoner exchange that sent Viktor Bout, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," who was serving a 25-year federal sentence on charges of conspiracy to kill American citizens and officials, among others. 

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Brittney Griner #15 and Diana Taurasi #12 of the USA Basketball Women's National Team stretch during practice as part of the 2024 USA Basketball Showcase on July 22, 2024 in London, England at City Sport. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Before playing in the WNBA All-Star Game, where Griner, a star with the league’s Phoenix Mercury, spoke about how she gets chills wearing her Team USA jersey now. 

"It means everything to me honestly," Griner said, via The Associated Press. "For me to now have the honor to wear it again and potentially win gold is icing on the cake for everything."

This tune wasn’t sung by Griner always, as she previously suggested the WNBA shouldn’t play the national anthem before its games