WNBA's Mercury on one-year agreement with Griner: 'The moment BG steps back on the court will be one you never forget'

A one-year agreement has reunited Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star and Houston native Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury.

The transaction occurred a little more than two months after the 32-year-old Griner returned home to the U.S. after being imprisoned in Russia for drug possession charges. 

After her long-awaited arrival, Griner hinted at making a comeback to the game, Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported, citing a story from CNN.

ESPN reported that the deal was purportedly worth $165,100. 

The Mercury, who played the entire 2022 season without Griner in the middle, took her first out of Baylor University (BU) in the 2013 WNBA Draft. 

“The moment BG steps back on the court will be one you never forget,” the team said in a tweet announcing their home opener, which is slated for Sunday, May 21.

Before her arrest at a Moscow airport in February 2022 just as Russia and Ukraine were about to go to war, ESPN reported, Griner was fresh from a 2021 campaign in which she averaged 20.5 points, 1.9 blocks and a career-high of 9.5 rebounds and led the Mercury to a miracle run to the WNBA Finals. 

Phoenix fell to the Las Vegas Aces in the championship round. 

Griner played professionally in Russia during the WNBA offseason.

Houston Daily reported that the U.S. secured the Nimitz High School graduate’s freedom in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. 

According to the publication, it was the second time last year an American with Texas connections was released from the Russian justice system. 

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers successfully brokered freedom for ex-Marine Trevor Reed, who hails from North Texas and resides in the Permian Basin. 

Reed was serving what was supposed to be a decade-long prison sentence for physically assaulting a law enforcement officer. 

The WNBA’s entire 2022 season was dedicated to Griner.