PHOENIX — Brittney Griner will not play overseas again unless it is with the U.S. national team, she said Thursday in her first news conference since being released in December after a 10-month detainment in Russia.
Griner also spoke of her concern for other Americans who are being detained internationally, what helped her get through her imprisonment and her belief in her ability to return to an elite level in the WNBA. The Phoenix Mercury center smiled frequently, laughed, shed some tears and spoke passionately at Footprint Center, her home arena since she was drafted at No. 1 in 2013.
“I’m no stranger to hard times,” Griner said about the resilience she needed during her detainment. “You’re gonna be faced with adversities throughout your life, and this was a pretty big one. But I just kind of relied on my hard work. Getting through it. You find a way to just grind it out.”
Griner’s wife, Cherelle; Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs; and Mercury coach Vanessa Nygaard were among those in attendance Thursday. Griner asked for a round of applause for Cherelle and then thanked many…
