'Bet on me': Griner seems like old self in first interview since detainment

PHOENIX — The smile was there, as was the well-known Brittney Griner sense of levity. Thursday, in her first news conference since a 10-month detainment in Russia last year, Griner in many ways seemed like her old self.

“I’m a jokester,” Griner said. “I used humor a lot throughout this whole experience.”

Griner was wrongfully imprisoned after vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage when she was returning to Moscow in February 2022 to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Sentenced last August to nine years in prison, Griner was freed in December in a high-profile prisoner swap.

Griner, 32, has mostly kept a low profile since her return to the United States, although she has taken part in some events and attended a Phoenix Suns game. She has mostly focused on being back on court, where she will play her 10th WNBA season this summer. In February, Griner re-signed a one-year deal with the team that drafted her No. 1 in 2013.

In meeting with the media at Footprint Center on Thursday, Griner talked about her resilience, her gratitude, her future and her commitment to helping raise awareness of other Americans who are detained overseas.

Here are some of the highlights of what we saw and heard from Griner as she and the Mercury are less than a month away from their season opener in Los Angeles on May 19.

What did Griner say about where her game is right now?

She said she feels confident that she can return to the star-level player she has been since entering the league. But she admitted the first month or so of returning to basketball training was challenging.

Brittney’s wife, Cherelle, filmed some of her early workouts, and Griner said, “Those videos are really, really different to how they are now.”

Griner has been the Mercury’s anchor on defense — she’s a two-time winner of the WNBA’s defensive player of the year award — and one of the top shot-blockers in women’s hoops history going back to her college days with the Baylor Bears. It might take awhile to get that timing back, along with her comfort level with the game’s physicality and speed.

But Griner said basketball is still her sanctuary, the place she has always been able to find herself. She also has had the full support of the Mercury throughout her career, including in the most difficult times.

“I’ll put my mind to it,” Griner said. “You know, I can achieve any goal. Not trying to sound big- headed, but I just really bet on me. I have all the resources here to help me get to that point where I can play. There was no question [I would be back] in the WNBA, back in Phoenix.”

Just about everything that could go wrong with Phoenix did last year. It wasn’t just Griner’s absence, which was difficult enough. Tina Charles signed with the Mercury, but then left around midseason — it was referred to as a contract divorce — and signed with the Seattle Storm.

Skylar Diggins-Smith had an altercation with longtime Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, clearly didn’t seem to jell with new Phoenix coach Vanessa Nygaard and left the team with two games left in the regular season. And Taurasi wasn’t available for the end of the regular season or the postseason because of injury.

Yet the Mercury still made the playoffs. While there needs to be some patience with Griner getting back to an elite level physically, both her presence on court and her personality off court should be a boost to the Mercury. Griner has often shown an ability to help the people around her communicate better, which is something the team missed last year.

Griner exhibited a lot of humor throughout her news conference. Why is that important?

It indicated she is really “back” in spirit as well as in body. Griner has always had a light-hearted personality, which is part of the reason she is so beloved by not just her Mercury teammates but by players around the WNBA.

She got the biggest laughs Thursday by jokingly referring to 40-year-old Taurasi as a “walking fossil,” which is even funnier when you know how much Griner idolizes Taurasi. She has said many times she would not be the player she is if she had not been Taurasi’s teammate.

Brittney Griner was cracking jokes about reuniting with Diana Taurasi 😆 pic.twitter.com/PshPRueSzf

— espnW (@espnW) April 27, 2023

Griner also mentioned that one of the first things she said to Nygaard was that she was “sorry” for ending the Las Vegas Aces’ season in the 2021 WNBA semifinals. Nygaard was still an Aces assistant then. In her first season with the Mercury last year, Nygaard was asked often about Griner and frequently said she knew what Griner was facing was tougher than anything the Mercury were dealing with. Now she will have the opportunity, finally, to coach Griner.

Thursday, Griner said she was so happy to get back to playing basketball that any workout would seem like a blessing, no matter how hard it was. Even two-a-day practices. Then she jokingly shot a look at Nygaard, who was sitting nearby, and said, “Coach, don’t get any ideas.”

How has Griner’s stance about playing overseas changed?

Griner has played overseas, in Russia and in China, in the WNBA’s offseason since she entered the league. Like most WNBA players, Griner has tried to maximize her earning potential in the relatively short window a professional athlete has. That’s why she was heading back into Russia at a dangerous time, just before the invasion of Ukraine. The reality is women’s basketball players have been traveling to dangerous parts of the world to play for decades.

But after her detainment, Griner said she will not play internationally again unless it is with the U.S. national team, for whom she has won gold medals in two Olympics and two FIBA World Cup competitions.

That means leaving behind potential income for the rest of her playing days. But her stance is understandable. That said, Griner added she supports other players doing whatever is best for them.

Where is Griner’s mental health?

Griner has been open about how she has worked on mental health issues throughout her life. Including the fact she left the WNBA’s COVID-19 “bubble” in Bradenton, Florida, before the 2020 season was over in part because she was dealing with mental health challenges.

Those who have followed Griner’s career worried about how the isolation, uncertainty and fear were affecting her during her detainment in Russia, and how she would adjust when she was back home.

Brittney Griner spoke about how she held onto hope during her detainment in Russia. pic.twitter.com/Ow4RGmK1R7

— ESPN (@espn) April 27, 2023

Thursday, she said it’s an on-going process, but she has a good support system and a strong sense of gratitude for all the things she now has back that were taken away — even the freedom to walk outside.

“I’ve always promoted talking to a counselor, seeking therapy,” Griner said. “Any tool that will help you get to a good center place. I’m still doing that as of right now. That will never change. It’s good to have someone to talk to.

“So much goes on in this world, we’re exposed to so much on social media, that it’s just a lot.”

How will fans and the general public react to Griner’s return?

Griner is one of the most popular players in the WNBA, and she will be welcomed back warmly by fans around the league.

But as she mentioned with her comment about social media, not everyone will be kind. In fact, Griner has long dealt with negative comments going back to her college days at Baylor.

She didn’t spend much time focusing on that Thursday, but said she will continue to speak out for causes she supports, including the rights of detained Americans abroad and the LGBTQIA+ community.

The partnership between Griner/the Mercury and the Bring Our Families Home organization will be visible throughout the WNBA season.

“I’m really fortunate to have this platform that I have,” Griner said. “And every chance that I get — if it’s wearing a shirt, saying their names, any interview that I have — that’s just bringing awareness to everybody that doesn’t have the platform and the followers and the exposure. I’m trying to help out in any way that I can.”