UNCASVILLE, Conn. — There was a sense of heaviness in the air at Mohegan Sun Arena as Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury players linked arms in a circle before Thursday night’s game.
DeWanna Bonner and Diana Taurasi, who spent a large portion of their careers playing together alongside Brittney Griner in Phoenix, pulled each other into an embrace as their respective sides gathered at midcourt.
The players stood there, arm in arm, for a 42-second moment of silence in honor of Griner, whose trial in Russian court ended with a nine-year prison sentence for drug smuggling earlier that day. Fans eventually broke out into chants of “BG!” and “Bring her home!”
