WNBA star Brittney Griner able to communicate via email, letters during detainment in Russia

Brittney Griner can't play with her WNBA colleagues. She can't call them, either. But she can write.

In one small bit of normalcy, Griner has been able to receive emails and letters from WNBA players during her detainment in Russia. Hundreds of emails have been sent by players to an account Griner's agent set up to allow them to communicate with her.

It's not easy: The emails are printed out and delivered sporadically in bunches to Griner by her lawyer after they are vetted by Russian officials. Griner doesn't have access to the email account; she'll either write a response on paper and her lawyers will take a photo of it or she'll dictate a response if she doesn't have any paper.

Los Angeles Sparks forward Amanda Zahui B. never thought she'd hear back from Griner when she sent an email a few months ago.

«When she responded to my second letter, it blew me away,'' Zahui B. said. „I was like, 'She responded!!' In my third letter, I was like, 'Hey best friend, we are officially best friends now.'''

Like so many WNBA players, Zahui B. wanted Griner to know she was thinking about her as the two-time Olympic gold medalist remains, in the view of U.S. officials, wrongfully detained in Russia.

Griner has been detained for 105 days after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.

Zahui B. has sent notes to the Phoenix Mercury center every few weeks. So have many other players.

“We just don't want her to think she's forgotten,'' Liberty center Stefanie Dolson said.

It's not just emails being sent to Griner; Diana Taurasi actually sent a hand-written letter to her Mercury and Olympic teammate.

Griner's agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas said the letters have been a