The Phoenix Mercury announced on Saturday that Brittney Griner will miss the team’s two-game road trip to focus on her mental health. According to Sports Illustrated, the team issued a statement in which it stated that it “fully supports the 32-year-old” and that it “will continue to work together on a timeline for her return.”
Following a 104-85 loss to the Chicago Sky on Sunday, the Phoenix Mercury will face the Indiana Fever on Tuesday. Griner returned to her squad after spending nearly ten months in Russian jails on drug smuggling allegations. She was later released in exchange for Russian international arms trader Viktor Bout in a one-for-one prisoner swap.
However, Griner has apparently experienced several negative experiences since her return to the WNBA. In June, she was accosted at a Dallas airport as she prepared to board a commercial flight after their game versus the Dallas Wings.
Following the incident, the WNBA permitted Griner to travel through charter planes for the remainder of the season for safety reasons. Following that interaction, the nine-time WNBA All-Star expressed her worries about the WNBA teams boarding charter aircraft, claiming that the league’s travel arrangements had reached “rock bottom,” according to Sports Illustrated.
Griner was arrested on February 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for allegedly having vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, which she claimed she was using to treat a medical problem. The basketball star from the United States was condemned to nine years in a Russian correctional colony.
During the WNBA offseason, the two-time Olympic champion had been playing for the Russian women’s basketball team UMMC Ekaterinburg. The 32-year-old was also among the WNBA stars who were due to play for teams in Russia and Ukraine during the winter season, according to the New York Post.