Brittney Griner’s news story seemed to conclude in 2022, and her full personal story will not be told for several years. But ’23 was so much more than a bridge. It was a test of her spirit and will. It affirmed her standing in a sport that embraced her and challenged her place in a country that sometimes has not.
Griner returned to the WNBA after missing the 2022 season because—this is still such a jarring phrase—she was imprisoned in Russia. She was detained in February ’22 and then sentenced to nine years in prison for possession of vape cartridges with cannabis oil. She was freed at the end of last year—this is also jarring—in an exchange for an arms dealer called the Merchant of Death.
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