Brittney Griner To Miss Two WNBA Games To Focus On Mental Health

The Phoenix Mercury has announced that Brittney Griner, will not be joining the team for an upcoming road trip. She made this decision to prioritize her mental health and as a result, will miss about two games scheduled during the trip to Chicago and Indiana this week.

While focusing on her mental health is crucial, the Mercury via a public statement claimed they’re working on determining the exact timeline for Brittney Griner’s return.

Brittney Griner To Miss Two WNBA Games To Focus On Mental Health — Twitter

“Mercury center Brittney Griner will not travel with the team on its upcoming two-game road trip to Chicago and Indiana (July 30-August 1) to focus on her mental health. The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return,” the team wrote on social media.

The WNBA all-star and Olympic gold medalist recently made a comeback to the league earlier this year.

Griner’s return followed a period of detainment in Russia on drug charges, lasting nearly 10 months. Last December, she gained her freedom through a high-profile prisoner exchange, securing her release in exchange for a previously imprisoned arms dealer in the United States.

And upon returning home, Griner rejoined the Phoenix Mercury, the team she had been a part of for many years

Griner’s official game-time appearance for the season came in May when the Mercury faced off against the Los Angeles Sparks. Remarkably, just a month later, she also participated in her first All-Star game since her triumphant return to the league. “It meant everything to me,” Griner told the crowd after the All-Star game, CNN reported. “I didn’t think that I would be here today, honestly but everybody sending letters, sending love, posting.”

Mercury center Brittney Griner will not travel with the team on its upcoming two-game road trip to Chicago and Indiana (July 30-August 1) to focus on her mental health. The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return.
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) July 29, 2023

She added, “I’m still seeing it to this day everything that everybody did. It really meant a lot to me, it gave me hope it made me not want to just give it up for anything, so it was this league that helped me out.” However, Griner’s release had sent Viktor Bout, a weapons dealer nicknamed ‘The Merchant of Death’ back to Russia. He was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison.

On the other hand, Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia in February 2022 at an airport for carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil.

Being an openly gay black woman, Griner’s imprisonment in a country with a history of hostility towards the LGBTQ community added complex layers of racial, gender, and social dynamics to her legal ordeal. Consequently, it drew unprecedented attention to the plight of wrongful detainees in Russia. Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department officially labeled Griner as ‘wrongfully detained,’ a claim that Russia vehemently denied.