A Free Brittney Jumped Right Back On To The Court

Brittney Griner returned to the United States on Friday when she landed at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, after being arrested and given a nine-year prison sentence for drug smuggling in Russia.

Griner would be released from a Russian penal colony and be sent back to the United States in exchange for Viktor Bout, a convicted arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death.” The Biden administration and Russia approved this prisoner exchange.

Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas said that while Griner was gathering herself at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, she picked up a basketball for the first time in ten months and dunked the ball.

When the Phoenix Mercury star was returning to her Russian basketball team in February, she was detained. She was arrested at a Moscow airport after bringing vape cartridges with cannabis-derived oil through the building. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the arrest took place, but it took weeks for news of it to reach Western media.

Now that Griner is back at home, she will take some time to get acclimated to her surroundings. It wasn’t immediately clear if she would play professional basketball again.

“If she wants to play, it will be for her to share. She has the holidays to rest and decide what’s next without any pressure,” Colas said. “She’s doing really, really well. She seems to have endured this in pretty incredible ways.”

Griner has not made any public remarks since her release. She was captured on camera smiling and interacting with the crew on her return flight.

Colas stated that Griner will now work to increase awareness of other Americans held captive in other nations, citing U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan as an example. Whelan and his family have vehemently denied being a spy, and he is currently being held in Russian custody.