Diana Taurasi says Brittney Griner's game improving by the week

PHOENIX — With less than a week before the Phoenix Mercury begin training camp, Diana Taurasi has seen Brittney Griner slowly improve on the court in her first basketball action since the 2021 season.

«I think she's gotten better,» Taurasi told ESPN on Tuesday. «Yeah, I think she's progressed. I mean, when you don't do anything for 10 months, yeah, it's a long strain on your body — mentally, physically.

»But every week you just see her getting a little bit better."

Griner has shown glimpses during scrimmages of the player she was when she helped lead the Mercury to the 2021 WNBA Finals and was in the running for league MVP.

«You see her do things [and you're like] 'Oh, oh, OK. Spin move baseline. I remember that.' Or getting a block,» Taurasi said. «So, there are all these little moments that she keeps stacking up and it's going to be a big training camp for her to get back where she wants to go. But, we're all here helping and hopefully we could all do it together.»

Taurasi said it's been «great» having Griner back with the team.

Griner was released from a Russian prison in December after being detained for nearly 10 months and quickly declared her intent to play for the Mercury this season.

«I mean, there's no one like her in women's basketball,» Taurasi said. «How she affects the game with her size, and I think what gets lost is how good she is on the block and all those things.

»And the strain of her, what she's gone through, we all felt it — not like her. She was the one in prison and I think that was the one thing that, throughout that whole ordeal, every time I would wake up and we would have coffee and we're like, 'I can't believe she's still in prison.' We're like, 'Well, we can't feel sorry for ourselves. She's