Free agent Brittney Griner returning to Mercury, league says - ESPN

PHOENIX — Brittney Griner will be back with the Phoenix Mercury for another season.

The star center re-signed with the only WNBA team she's played, the league announced on X on Friday night. A league source told ESPN that the free agent signed a one-year deal that the Mercury officially will announce next week.

The 33-year-old Griner returned last season after missing 2022 while she was detained in a Russian jail. She played in the second-most games of her career, averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 blocks for a Mercury team that went 9-31.

Griner, the first overall pick in 2013, was released from the Russian jail on Dec. 8, 2022, after spending 294 days there following her arrest on Feb. 17, 2022. When she made her 2023 debut on May 19, she had not played in a game in 474 days.

Griner, who has twice been the runner-up for WNBA MVP, ranks third all time in blocks. She signed a one-year deal last offseason worth $165,100.