After being launched from a Russian jail, Brittney Griner focused a return to the WNBA this 12 months; In line with stories, Griner has now re-joined her Phoenix Mercury staff; Griner has performed for Mercury since they chose her with the primary choose within the draft a decade in the past

Brittney Griner seems to be set to return to Phoenix Mercury for the beginning of the WNBA 2023 season

Brittney Griner has signed a one-year contract to play for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, it has been reported.

The American was launched from a Russian penal colony final December as a part of a prisoner swap.

In line with ESPN, which cited a supply, the 32-year-old free agent signed the deal on Saturday to return to the one WNBA staff she has performed for since they chose her with the primary choose within the 2013 draft.

A photograph supplied by the US Military reveals WNBA star Brittney Griner arriving at Kelly Subject in San Antonio following her launch in a prisoner swap with Russia

The Mercury, who open their 2023 WNBA season on Could 19 on the Los Angeles Sparks, didn’t instantly reply when requested by Reuters to verify the report.

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and eight-time Girls’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation All-Star, was arrested in February 2022 at an airport exterior Moscow for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her baggage.

She was subsequently convicted of drug smuggling and later transferred to one in every of Russia’s most infamous penal colonies, the place former inmates have described torture, harsh beatings and slave labour situations.

Brittney Griner was transferred to one in every of Russia’s most infamous penal colonies

Griner was launched final December in a prisoner swap with Russia in trade for arms supplier Viktor Bout, a deal that was organized after months of talks throughout a time of excessive stress between the 2 nations after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

In her first public assertion since her launch, Griner mentioned final December that she would advocate for Individuals detained overseas and that she deliberate to return to her WNBA staff.

“I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look ahead to with the ability to say ‘thanks’ to these of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in particular person quickly,” Griner wrote.

Griner final performed for the Mercury within the 2021 WNBA season when she had among the finest years of her profession and averaged 20.5 factors, 9.5 rebounds and a pair of.7 assists over 30 video games.