Brittney Griner’s guilty plea Thursday has not lessened the support the Olympic gold medalist continues to receive from her WNBA peers.
The Phoenix Mercury All-Star pleaded guilty to drug possession charges on the second day of her trial in a Russian court in a case that could see her sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
MOSCOW (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty Thursday to drug possession charges on the second day of her trial in a Russian court in a case that could see her sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday reassured the wife of detained WNBA player Brittney Griner, who is on trial in Russia, that he is working to win Griner's freedom as soon as possible, the White House said.
PHOENIX (AP) — They shared laughs, smiles, memories. There also were tears, fears, unease.
Through the range of emotions, one common thread bonded them together: Brittney Griner.
Wearing “BG” shirts and holding signs, several hundred fans gathered for a public rally in support of Griner on Wednesday, hoping their sentiments would reach the WNBA player 6,000 miles away in a Russian jail cell.
Brittney Griner's appeal to President Joe Biden in a handwritten letter continued to garner reaction Tuesday after the WNBA All-Star acknowledged she feared never returning home and asked Biden not “ forget about me and the other American Detainees.”
MOSCOW (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner went on trial Friday, 4 1/2 months after her arrest on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for a Russian team, in a case that has unfolded amid tense relations between Moscow and Washington.
MOSCOW (AP) — Shackled and looking wary, WNBA star Brittney Griner was ordered Monday to stand trial by a court near Moscow on cannabis possession charges, about 4 1/2 months after her arrest at an airport while returning to play for a Russian team.
NEW YORK (AP) — Brittney Griner will have a place at the WNBA All-Star Game, being named an honorary starter Wednesday by Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A phone call between jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner and her wife has been rescheduled after an earlier attempt to connect on the couple's anniversary failed because of an “unfortunate mistake,” Biden administration officials said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times through the American embassy in Russia on the couple’s fourth anniversary Saturday, but they never connected since the phone line at the embassy was not staffed, Cherelle Griner said Monday.
MOSCOW (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner will remain in Russian custody through at least July 2, Russian state-run news agency Tass reported Tuesday.
The 31-year-old American basketball player has been held in Russia since February when she was detained at a Moscow airport after authorities there claimed she was carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
WASHINGTON (AP) — State Department officials met Monday with members of Brittney Griner's WNBA team about the Phoenix Mercury star's monthslong detention in Russia and the Biden administration's efforts to secure her release.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Penny Taylor used her induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday to call for the release of her former Phoenix Mercury teammate Brittney Griner, noting it's been 114 days since the seven-time WNBA All-Star was detained in Russia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brittney Griner is easily the most prominent American locked up by a foreign country. But the WNBA star's case is tangled up with that of a lesser-known American also imprisoned in Russia.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Brittney Griner hasn’t been forgotten at the NBA Finals.
The WNBA star has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days — wrongfully so, U.S.
Brittney Griner can’t play with her WNBA colleagues. She can’t call them, either.
But she can write.
In one small bit of normalcy, Griner has been able to receive emails and letters from WNBA players during her detainment in Russia.
Brittney Griner's wife, Cherelle, wants President Joe Biden to secure her partner's release, doing whatever is necessary to get the WNBA star home from Russia where she has been detained for more than three months.
The State Department said Tuesday that it still pushing to have regular contact with WNBA star Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury, who has been detained in Russia for nearly three months.
A consular official was able to meet with Griner last week, when her pre-trial detention in Russia was extended for one month. Griner has been detained — wrongfully, U.S.
New York coach Sandy Brondello was on her way to her team's Friday morning shootaround when she heard the “disappointing" news that Russia had extended Brittney Griner's pre-trial detention another 30 days.
MOSCOW (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner had her pre-trial detention in Russia extended by one month Friday, her lawyer said.
Alexander Boykov told The Associated Press he thinks the relatively short extension indicated that Griner's case would go to trial soon.
As WNBA star and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner approaches the three-month mark of her detention in Russia, she has no clear prospect of release.
PHOENIX (AP) — The purple-and-orange throng snaked its way through the maze of barricades that fill downtown Phoenix these days, excitement growing with each step toward the Footprint Center.
Their voices, no longer drowned out by traffic and tractors, created the type of palpable buzz inside the arena that only a season opener can generate.
PHOENIX (AP) — Dearica Hamby scored 24 points and the Las Vegas Aces won in Becky Hammon's first game as coach, beating the short-handed Phoenix Mercury 106-88 on Friday night to open the WNBA season.
NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA will begin its 26th season this weekend with several intriguing storylines, including the potential retirement of Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles, the return of Becky Hammon as a coach and the absence of Brittney Griner.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has determined that WNBA star Brittney Griner is being wrongfully detained in Russia, meaning the United States will more aggressively work to secure her release even as the legal case against her plays out, the State Department said Tuesday.
The WNBA will honor Phoenix star Brittney Griner with a floor decal and allow the Mercury to pay her without it counting against the team’s salary cap, the league announced Tuesday.
Brittney Griner remains detained in Russia and it's unclear how an unexpected prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia that freed marine veteran Trevor Reed on Wednesday will affect the status of the WNBA star.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For another person in another country at another time, the case might have been a minor matter: an American citizen detained at an airport for allegedly possessing a cannabis derivative legal in much of the world.
PHOENIX (AP) — While the practice facility for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury was filled with laughter and the echoes of bouncing basketballs during the team's preseason workout, there was no denying the presence and spirit of 6-foot-9 center Brittney Griner was missing.
For the elite athletes in the WNBA, spending the offseason playing in Russia can mean earning more money than they can make back home — sometimes even two or three times as much.
But those who have done that also describe the loneliness of being away from family and friends, of struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture, and of living in a place with only a few hours of sunlight in the winter and temperatures well below freezing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Moments before Rhyne Howard went to Atlanta with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league is working very hard to help bring Brittney Griner back to the United States.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A'ja Wilson wishes that she and her USA Basketball teammates could do more to help Brittney Griner right now.
They've all been straddling the line of trying not to say anything that could potentially hurt the WNBA star's case as she's still imprisoned in Russia on drug allegations, but also wanting Griner and her family to know that they care about her.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two of Brittney Griner’s USA Basketball teammates have broken their silence on the star player’s imprisonment in Russia.
Most WNBA players have been hesitant to talk about Griner’s detention on apparent drug charges in Russia, hoping to avoid potentially hurting her case.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that a U.S. Embassy official has visited with WNBA star Brittney Griner, who remains detained near Moscow, to check on her condition.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price told CNN the official found Griner “to be in good condition.” Price did not identify the official who had been granted consular access to Griner, something the United States had been demanding.
The United States stepped up its push Friday for consular access to Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who is detained in Russia on allegations of drug smuggling, as a member of a Russian state-backed prison monitoring group said Griner was faring well behind bars.
Russian media reported that the detention of WNBA star Brittney Griner was extended until May 19, a development that could see the two-time Olympic champion being held for at least three months before her case is resolved.
The strange case of Brittney Griner raises all sorts of perplexing questions.
Is one of the best women basketball players in the world a political pawn in the standoff between two antagonistic superpowers?
Brittney Griner's wife, Cherelle, has thanked everyone for their support of the WNBA star, who was arrested last month in Russia.
Brittney Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.
Russia has been a popular destination for WNBA players like Brittney Griner over the past two decades because of the money they can make playing there in the winter.
With top players earning more than $1 million — nearly quadruple what they can make as a base salary in the WNBA — Griner, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Jonquel Jones have been willing to spend their offseason playing far from home.
WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested last month at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.
The Russian Customs Service said Saturday that the cartridges were identified as containing oil derived from cannabis, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Mercury were fined $10,000 on Tuesday by the WNBA for violating the league's rules on postgame media interview access following Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
The Mercury's players — including stars Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith — didn't do interviews after Chicago's series-clinching 80-74 win on Sunday.
CHICAGO (AP) — Kahleah Copper provided the offense and the Chicago Sky used a dominant defensive effort to move within a win of the franchise’s first WNBA championship.
Copper scored 20 of her 22 points in the first half and Chicago routed the Phoenix Mercury 86-50 on Friday night in Game 3 of the finals.
PHOENIX (AP) — Diana Taurasi spent most of the night being hounded by Chicago's Allie Quigley, an exhausting exercise in an already-tough game, particularly for a 39-year-old.
As Game 2 of the WNBA Finals wound toward a tight finish, the Phoenix Mercury looked to the player recently named the greatest in the WNBA's 25-year history.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Phoenix Mercury coach Sandy Brondello was asked what was the difference in the fourth quarter, she had a simple response: It was Diana Taurasi.
Taurasi scored 14 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter, and Brittney Griner had 28 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mercury past the Las Vegas Aces 87-84 in Game 5 of the semifinals Friday night to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2014.