Brittney Griner Breaks Silence After Being Released From Russia, Discusses WNBA Future

WNBA star and 2x Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is breaking her silence for the first time since being released from Russian prison after the United States and Russia came to a one-on-one prisoner swap deal on December 8, 2022.

Griner, who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Ever since she made it safely back to the United States, many basketball fans and Griner fans have been wondering when or if she would ever return to the WNBA. Now, Griner is speaking out.

Griner took to Instagram to break her silence, writing, "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 WNBA player continued to thank those for their endless support, including her wife, Cherelle, the WNBA, her legal team, President Joe Biden, and more.

"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 wrote.

Writing to President Biden, specifically, Griner said, "President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. I will use my platform to do whatever I can to help you. I also encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home. Every family deserves to be whole."

The WNBA player is grateful to be back home for the holidays and wants to enjoy this time with her loved ones. "As I transition home to enjoy the holidays with my family, I want to acknowledge and thank the entire PISA staff and medical team at the San Antonio Fort Sam Houston Base," she said. "I appreciate the time and care to make sure I was okay and equipped with the tools for this new journey."

In regards to if she will ever return to the WNBA, Griner said she "intends" to play basketball again.

"I also want to make one thing very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season," she wrote, "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."

Shortly after the news broke regarding the one-on-one prisoner swap between Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, President Biden held a short press conference, in which is proudly said, “Brittney is relieved to finally be heading home.”

“She wrote to me back in July,” Biden said of the 2x Olympic gold medalist. “She didn’t ask for special treatment, she requested the simple quote ‘Please don’t forget about me and the other American detainees. Please do everything you can to bring us home’.”

He went on to discuss the one-on-one prisoner swap deal specifically, stating, “After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held in intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along.”

“This is a day we worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release. It took painstaking and intense negotiations,” he said.