Britney Griner is a WNBA superstar that has been turned into a political pawn since being detained in Russia on February 17th. She was detained by Russian customs after cartridges containing less than a gram of hashish oil were found in her luggage which led to an arrest on drug charges.
Since then, Griner's case has taken a few different turns. There have been concerns that Griner is being used as a "high-profile hostage" by Russia and the US has determined that she is being "wrongfully detained." Still, Griner remains in Russia over eight months later.
Fellow WNBA superstar Sue Bird joined Kenny Mayne on the Audacy Original Podcast “Hey Mayne” and talked about the league’s evolution in advocating for Griner and what playing in Russia is like.
“Are you guys advocating that it’s helpful just by yelling about it – I’m not criticizing that – like what else is there to do except just keep her name alive, right?” Mayne asked.
“Currently, that’s really all we can do. The powers that be on BG’s side of things are in it. They are in it with all the powers that be,” Bird said (27:42 in player above). “So for us, it was a little bit of an evolution in terms of our strategy. Very early, if you remember, we were actually very quiet. and by we I mean WNBA players and those connected to us. So we were very quiet about it. We didn’t want to bring extra attention to it at the start because we didn’t want BG to become any kind of political pawn.
“That was clearly what was happening. That was obviously what I feel like the other side, the Russian side, that was part of the strategy was to be able to use her in some way so we tried to stay quiet.”
Then it became clear that the quiet strategy wasn’t working and the WNBA players went in the opposite direction.
“OK, now we have to be loud. That was also like very much – we strategized about it. We had conference calls about these things. We send out talking points all the time, our union does, so we’re all on the same page so it can be clear and concise,” Bird said. “And then it got to the point, like I said, where it was like alright, it’s time to get loud about this. It’s time to spread the word. It’s time to talk about it on TV. And that’s where we still are, just making sure we bring attention to it.”
Given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, it’s a unique situation that the US is in. It’s an enemy country and it’ll likely eventually be a trade of Griner for some sort of political figure or general, Mayne speculated.
Bird just wants to bring Griner home.
“At this stage, whatever brings her home works for me,” she said. “It speaks volumes to who she is that I read an article, she had written a letter to President Biden and there was a response to it, I think, and it was like it’s known in the jail, everybody loves BG. All these Russians love BG. That’s who she is, and then there is the whole idea of sanctity of sport.
Like Griner, Bird also played in Russia during the WNBA offseason in the 2000s. The pay was better there and the athletes were – and are – highly regarded.
“I know the Russian culture values sports tremendously and so to hold – not that athletes are above anybody else – but it is just a little bit, I find, hypocritical that they value athletes the way they do. I played there, I know it. I could tell you stories of the ways in which the way they value athletes. I was almost jealous.”
Bird explained that Olympic gold medalists get a large monthly stipend for the rest of their lives for bringing glory to Russia.
“It’s an interesting idea that here we are as athletes traveling the world all the time and now you’ve kind of, you’ve made that scary for athletes, but you love athletes and you cherish them and you value them,” she said. “So it’s just this interesting thing in my head.”
It has now been more than eight months since Griner was detained on February 17th. She just had her 32nd birthday this week.
Griner’s case has been top of mind for many WNBA players and NBA players as well. With the NBA season tipping off this week, multiple stars have mentioned Griner and called for actions to be taken for her to come home.
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