Brittney Griner is happy to be home.
The WNBA player spoke out for the first time since being released from a Russian custody. President Joe Biden agreed to a prisoner swap for a Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, who had served 11 years of a 25-year jail sentence in America.
BG was arrested back in February after Russian authorities found vapes cartridges with cannabis oil. She plead guilty in July and was sentenced to 9-years at a Russian Penal Colony on August 11.
She says via Instagram, “It feels so good to be home! The last 10 months have been a battle at every turn. I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your help.”
The post continues, “I am grateful to each person who advocated for me, especially my wife, Cherelle Griner, my family, Lindsay Kagawa Colas and Casey Wasserman and my whole team at Wasserman, Vince Kozar and the Phoenix Mercury, the players of the WNBA, and my entire WNBA family, Terri Jackson and the WNBPA staff, my Russian legal team Maria Blagovolina and Alex Boykov, the leaders, activists, and grassroots organizations, Gov. Richardson and Mickey Bergman of the Richardson Center, the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, Roger Carstens and the SPEHA team, and of course, a special thank you to President Biden, Vice President Harris, Secretary Blinken and the entire Biden-Harris Administration.”
She goes on to say that she fully intends on returning to Basketball and playing for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season.
Read the full post below. Welcome home, BG.