Brittney Griner, who won the NCAA National Championship with Baylor, as well as the 2012 college basketball Player of the Year award, a 2014 WNBA champion, and a 2-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested. On February 17, 2022, Russian officials found vape cartridges that contained hash oil residue in her luggage at Sheremetyevo International airport. Griner who plays for the Phoenix Mercury also played for the Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg. A Russian court labeled the case a drug smuggling investigation. She is now home. She was released by the Russian government in exchange for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Brittney Griner’s arrest was the perfect storm of events. She was arrested at a Russian airport. Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine. The United States levied sanctions on Russia and extended aid to Ukraine. UMMC Ekaterinburg owner and Russian billionaire Andrei Anatolyevich Kozitsyn sits on many government boards that depend on some areas that have been sanctioned. Women’s groups, basketball folk, and LGBTQQIP2SAA community came out in full force to make sure she was not forgotten. Now that she is home, the military community is up in arms, because former marine Paul Whelan is still not released. After a trial held entirely behind closed doors. that U.S. diplomats said was unfair and opaque, Whelan was convicted of spying in 2020, and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison. He is currently being held in the IK-17 penal colony in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow.

The Impact on Basketball

Who’s right or wrong doesn’t matter and is for the most part subjective. It’s safe to say Brittney won’t be going back to Russia, but she will play in the WNBA again. She probably will play internationally again if the money is big enough. The reality is men and women will continue to play in Russia, because of the large salaries that Russian leagues can offer with unlimited resources and having the ability to pay sums equivalent to mid-level NBA players. Which is why Russia is one of the countries outside of the US that pays the most and is one of the best leagues that a player can play in to build a respectable resume to further their basketball career.

NBA, WNBA and college prospects that are Russian will be hard pressed to play in the US from a political standpoint for a little while. Many of the players who were in the US on visas were sent back to Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. Known as a basketball recruiting ground for all global leagues, Russian players typically offer size, strength, and sometimes athleticism. These traits and markers are coveted in the NBA, Euro-League, high level international and colleges. We can assume that all of them will eventually draw on Russian talent again but as of now, politics are in the way.