The player had been arrested in February of last year for introducing less than a gram of cannabis oil into vaping cartridges.
19 feb 2023 . Updated at 5:43 p.m.
the american player Brittney Griner return to the WNBA, the North American basketball league, in the 2023 season after signing a one-year contract with thePhoenix Mercury after his 10-month detention in a jail in Russia.
Griner was detained at the Moscow Sheremetyevo International Airport in February 2022 for bringing into Russia less than one gram of cannabis oil in vaping cartridges.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist said she made an honest mistake, and her lawyers claimed she was using cannabis for medicinal purposes and was unaware of its illegal status in Russia.
Posteriorly, was sentenced to nine years for possession and smuggling of drugs for criminal purposesbut was released in December in a prisoner exchange that led to the return to Russia of the convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner stated that she planned to play for the Mercury in 2023 upon her return to the United States, and the team has reached an agreement for the eight-time WNBA All-Star to participate next season.
Griner was drafted first by the Mercury in 2013, and they won the 2014 WNBA championship by beating the Chicago Sky in the finals. Her last game with the team before her incarceration also came against the Sky in a 2021 WNBA Finals loss following one of the best seasons of her career, in which she averaged 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks and 9 blocks. .5 rebounds per game.
Griner will look to help the Mercury recover after suffering a first-round elimination from theplay offs of the WNBA in August, with the team set to kick off its 2023 campaign against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 19.
