Brittney Griner re-signs with Phoenix Mercury

Brittney Griner will be back in the WNBA this time, as soon as once again taking part in with the Phoenix Mercury.

Griner, who was a absolutely free agent, re-signed with the workforce Tuesday.

The 32-yr-previous Griner had explained she would return to Phoenix in a social media submit in December, after she returned property from her 10-month detainment in Russia. Griner had been arrested at an airport just outside the house of Moscow on drug possession rates a calendar year back and was introduced house in a extraordinary superior-level prisoner trade in December.

“We skipped BG every working day that she was absent and, although basketball was not our most important worry, her presence on the ground, in our locker room, all around our business, and inside of our community was significantly missed,” Mercury GM Jim Pitman mentioned. “We will keep on to use the sources of our organization to support her, on and off the flooring, and we are thrilled for her that she will get to return to basketball, which she loves so dearly. This is a specific signing and currently is a special working day for all of us.”

The 6-foot-9 centre last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team arrive at the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that year.

Griner, who was drafted No. 1 in 2013 by the Mercury, was mentioned Saturday on Phoenix’s roster on the WNBA site.

Because returning household from Russia, Griner has been out of the community spotlight, with the exception of appearances at the Super Bowl, the Phoenix Open up and an MLK Working day celebration in Phoenix, where by she life.

“I do not feel any of us will ignore in which we have been on Dec. 8 when we heard BG was coming home or on Dec. 15 when she declared she supposed not only to engage in basketball in 2023 but that it would be for the Mercury,” Mercury President of Business Operations Vince Kozar stated. “And I know none of us will at any time overlook what it will feel like to welcome her back on to her residence flooring on May well 21. To know BG is to adore and value BG, and we cannot wait around to display her that in person with thousands and hundreds of her biggest supporters precisely 3 months from nowadays at our Welcome Home Opener.”

She skipped a United states of america Basketball schooling camp previously this thirty day period, but the firm built it very clear she could consider all the time she essential to decide if she wished to play for the U.S. once more.

The WNBA has explained it will tackle obtaining Griner exclusive travel accommodations, this kind of as charter flights, just after she signed.

“We are really cognizant of BG’s distinctive predicament,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told the AP earlier this month. “We’ve been planning and we’ve been considering it by way of with safety authorities, BG’s facet, our side. We’ll come across the ideal time to remark on it when she signs with a team.”

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By Doug Feinberg

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