The top priority of the Phoenix Mercury front office has been to help bring Brittney Griner home safely after she was wrongfully detained by Russia in February. It didn’t matter if their eight-time All-Star center never played in the WNBA again.
On Friday, Griner put speculation on her basketball future to rest in her first public statement since touching down on U.S. soil. And it surely brought jubilation to the Mercury, some of whom surprised Griner with a visit that morning.
“I also want to make one thing very clear: 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 on Instagram.