WNBA basketball player on Greiner’s verdict: ‘No one wanted to play, the whole team was crying’

Phoenix Mercury WNBA basketball player Skylar Diggins admitted that the whole team didn’t want to play in the regular season game against the Connecticut Sun because they were crushed by the news of the verdict. Britney Griner sentenced to 9 years in prison in Russia in a drug trafficking case.

American basketball player Greiner, suspected of attempting to illegally import hash oil through Sheremetyevo airport in February, was arrested on 4 August. million rubles. Basketball players from both WNBA teams staged an action in support of Greiner ahead of Thursday’s game: They stood in a ring in the center of the field and remained silent for 42 seconds, symbolizing the number Greiner under played for the Mercury. Some viewers chanted BG (Greiner’s initials) and “Bring her home”.

– It’s hard. It’s hard for all of us. You all ask us these questions, but that doesn’t really make the trauma go away, you just make it worse. We can break down and cry in front of you. What else is left. I don’t know what else to say about it. She’s our sister, not some random person on the street. We don’t politicize it. These are human things. Brittney is our true friend and sister for life.

If we came here, we still have to play a game. No one even wanted to play today. How, in such a situation, should we go to court with clear thoughts? When the whole team cries before the game? You try to honor her, go out and play your best for her, whether she’s there or not. Right now we have to try to keep our spirits up, give the team momentum, food, while respecting her (Brittney’s) condition, Diggins said in a post-match press conference , the video of which is posted on the Phoenix Mercury account on Twitter.

Griner has been playing for UMMC Yekaterinburg since 2015, she won the Olympics twice with the American team (2016, 2020), in 2014 she became WNBA champion with the Mercury.