Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since February. FOTO: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN / GETTY IMAGES
The Boston Celtics used this Saturday their training and press conference in the NBA Finals to demand the release and return to the US of Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days accused of carrying drugs in her luggage when she was going to take a plane.
With T-shirts with the slogan “We Are BG” (“Somos BG”, by the initials of Griner), Jayson Tatum and company showed their support for the figure of the WNBA one day before the second game of the Finals against the Golden State Warriors (0-1 for the Celtics) is played at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
“I’ve been here before. I know what to do next game.”
Jayson Tatum is ready for Game 2. #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/Mz49SC40tg
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 4, 2022
“It’s extremely hard to see what he’s going through,” Tatum told the media. “I know that everyone understands and I feel that and obviously we are all together in supporting her and try to bring her back to her family,” he said.
For his part, Jaylen Brown explained that the idea for the jerseys came from the NBA Players Union (NBPA) and had his partner Grant Williams as the main coordinator.
But as a collective we wanted to come out and show our support for Brittney Griner. We feel that enough is enough,” he said in relation to the player’s prolonged detention in Russia.
“We wanted to come out and show our support… We feel like enough is enough.”
-Jaylen Brown discusses the @celtics all wearing t-shirts in support of Brittney Griner. pic.twitter.com/Gs14Zqr40x
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 4, 2022
Brown was also in favor of use “the platform” of the NBA to attract attention about issues that concern them. “We are not here just to entertain. We also have a voice,” she assured.
This show of solidarity from the Celtics comes two days after NBA commissioner Adam Silver also joined efforts to get Griner back.
“For more than 100 days he has been illegally detained. We work with the US government to release her as soon as possible“, He pointed out about a pressure campaign in recent weeks that has united the WNBA and the NBA.
Keys to the arrest of Brittney Griner
Although his arrest was not made public until March 5, Griner was arrested at a Russian airport on February 17. and was accused of having cartridges with hashish oil for vaping in her luggage.
Griner was arrested for drug smugglinghas been in preventive detention since then -at least until June 18-, and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
In May it was learned that Russia and the United States are negotiating the exchange of the player by the Russian arms dealer Viktor But, known as the “merchant of death” and who is serving a sentence in a US prison.
The US Department of State “determined” that Griner is “wrongly detained”in Russia. Griner, 31, is with Diana Taurasi the main reference for the Phoenix Mercury, with whom she won the WNBA in 2014.
Regarded as one of the most dominant centers in the league, Griner is a seven-time WNBA All-Star and also has two Olympic gold medals with the US team.
Like other American players, Griner took advantage of the months when there is no WNBA competition to play in Russia, where her salary at UMMC Ekaterinburg (more than a million dollars per season) is more than four times the maximum can receive by agreement in the WNBA (228,094 dollars as a cap for this course).
Via: eldiariony.com
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