Brittney Griner stands for national anthem ahead of first game post-detainment

WNBA star Brittney Griner returned to the basketball court on Saturday for the first time since being detained in Russia.

Griner stood with her teammates during the national anthem that played prior to the game. She had developed a habit of kneeling during the anthem as a form of protest, though that was prior to her traumatizing incarceration in a Russian penal colony last year.

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“Hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different,” Griner told reporters after her first game back. “It’s like when you go for the Olympics, you’re sitting there, about to get gold put on your neck, the flags are going up and the anthem is playing, it just hits different. … Being here today … it means a lot.”

The Saturday game was Griner’s first one since Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals. That was before she was arrested in Russia for alleged drug possession in February 2022. Griner signed a yearlong deal worth $165,100 to rejoin her team earlier this year, months after President Joe Biden approved high-profile prisoner swap with convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to get her back in December.

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Griner’s team, the Phoenix Mercury, faced off against the Los Angeles Sparks and ultimately lost 71 to 90. For her part, the 6’9″ center scored 10 points in 17 minutes with an additional three rebounds.

As the number one draft pick in 2013, Griner finished the 2021 season with an average 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks, and 2.7 assists per game. She also had a career-high of 9.5 rebounds per match.

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