Brittney Griner missed the Phoenix Mercury’s game at the Washington Mystics on Friday night because of a hip injury.
Griner was ruled out roughly 20 minutes before tip-off. It’s the first game she has missed this season since returning from her imprisonment in Russia.
Griner was nevertheless embraced by opponents in the nation’s capital down the road from many of the folks in the U.S. government who worked to get her home. She was freed in December as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange after spending eight months in jail on drug charges, when Russian authorities said Griner carried vape canisters with cannabis oil into the country.