Brittney Griner is finally home. For nearly 10 months, her name was linked to unhappiness and unsettled spirits within countless WNBA players, fans and other Americans. If her name did not already reverberate in your mind based on her sheer court wizardry for the Mercury, three words—#FreeBrittneyGriner—likely strengthened your perception of the eight-time All-Star.
Despite the climactic end of Griner’s Russian imprisonment, not everyone is jovial and radiating with smiles to see the eight-time All-Star reemerge in American society. Some are perplexed. Another faction can’t fathom that President Joe Biden orchestrated a prisoner swap deal for Griner’s return to U.S. soil that sent international arms dealer Viktor Bout back to Russia. There’s also concern for Paul Whelan, a former Marine who was also wrongfully detained who remains behind bars. Russia declined a deal for both Griner and Whelan to come home, because the 52-year-old is considered a different class of prisoner. Griner could have remained in barbaric prison conditions in Mordovia waiting on a deal for her and Whelan “that was not going to happen,” his twin brother said.
Think of Griner’s release as a three-prong flow chart with sports sitting crudely in between American patriotism and the crossfires of a geopolitical demolition unfolding across the globe. “She was a political pawn,” South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley says.
