Brittney Griner will reportedly play for the Mercury in the 2023 WNBA season.
The Phoenix star signed a one-year deal with the franchise, according to ESPN. Richard Cohen of HerHoopStats first reported that Griner was re-signing with the Mercury on a protected deal worth $165,000.
The news does not come as a total surprise as Griner previously wrote in an Instagram post on Dec. 16 that she planned to suit up for Phoenix this season.
“I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon,” Griner wrote in a statement.
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Griner was detained in February after the Russian Federal Customs Service found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow. The U.S. State Department deemed Griner imprisonment as “wrongfully detained.”
She later plead guilty to the charges, and was eventually sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. After spending 10 months behind bars, Griner was released in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout on Dec. 8 in the United Arab Emirates.
The 32-year-old has not played in a WNBA game since 2021, when she aided the Mercury in a WNBA Finals run that resulted in a loss to the Sky.
Griner enters her 10th WNBA season as the Phoenix selected her No. 1 in the ’13 WNBA draft. During the ’21 campaign, Griner averaged 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks, 2.7 assists and career-highs in rebounds (9.5 ), offensive rebounds (2.4 ) and free-throw percentage (.846) per game.
Phoenix will open the ’23 season on the road against the Sparks on May 19 followed by its first home game on May 21 against the Sky.
