‘The love was amazing’: Brittney Griner shines in emotional WNBA return

Two hours before Brittney Griner would play her first WNBA game in 19 months, her coach with the Phoenix Mercury described the meaning of the occasion in a simple yet poignant manner.

“All last season, I opened with how many days she was gone,” Vanessa Nygaard, the team’s second-year coach, said concerning her interviews. “This is the first press conference for a game that I haven’t.”

Griner, who spent 10 months imprisoned in Russia, returned to an exuberant reception Friday night from the 10,396 fans attending the season opener at the Crypto.com Arena, where the Los Angeles Sparks routed Griner’s Mercury, 94-71. Those attending included US vice-president Kamala Harris, who spoke to both teams before the game.

Though she played Wednesday night in an exhibition loss to the Sparks in Phoenix, Griner’s appearance in the season opener marked her first meaningful game since 17 October 2021. On that date, one day shy of Griner’s 31st birthday, the Chicago Sky defeated the Mercury to win the WNBA finals in four games.

Exactly four months later, Russian police arrested Griner in Moscow after customs officials found cannabis oil in her vaping cartridges. Griner, who played with UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA’s off-season, received a prescription from her doctor in Arizona to use medical marijuana to treat pain. But medical marijuana is illegal in Russia.

On 2 May, the US state department declared Griner to be “wrongly detained”. During her trial, Griner pled guilty to possession on 7 July but said she had no intention to break any laws. On 4 August, the court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison and fined her 1m rubles, or $16,301. By contrast, the standard sentence in Russia for possessing less than two grams of cannabis