US basketball pro Brittney Griner (32) is taking a break. Her club, the Phoenix Mercury, announced Saturday that the All-Star center won’t be going with the team on the upcoming two-game journey to instead 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 said in a statement, according to Sports Illustrated. The Mercury take on the Chicago Sky on Sunday, followed by a game against the Indiana Fever on Tuesday.
Griner made her triumphant comeback to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in May after missing all of last season. She was serving a nearly 10-month prison sentence in Russia on drug charges, which the United States fiercely denied. She was released in December as part of a prisoner swap between the two countries.
On the sidelines of the Mercury’s June 7 game against the Dallas Wings, where Griner was cheered on by her wife Cherelle, her high school coach and members of her AAU basketball team, the athlete opened up about how it was after her difficult time in Russia to be back with her team. “It was nice to see everyone and just be back in Texas,” she said at the time. “I miss being here. When I came out and they announced my name, love meant a lot to me.”
But Griner’s return was not without problems, as reported by “People” magazine. On June 10, she was molested by a “provocateur” while she and her Mercury teammates were traveling through Dallas International Airport. The man was finally overpowered, whereupon the police got involved. Griner later broke her silence about the incident, saying, according to ESPN, that it was a “low point” for the league.
