Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, who as a player spent years in Russia and won Olympic bronze for her adopted country, said it was upsetting to see a member of the tight-knit women’s basketball community locked up for nearly six months. Washington says Griner is being wrongfully detained in Russia. “It’s something that obviously hits very close to home for me and so I’m just asking the Russian government to do the right thing. It’s never too late to do the right thing,” Hammon told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “We ask for mercy. We ask for a favor. And we’re asking to bring BG home.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, is expected to return to a Russian court on Thursday for closing arguments in her trial. She faces up to 10 years in prison on drug charges after she was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 with vapor cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. read more Her arrest on her way to join her Russian team in the US offseason came just days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations between Moscow and Washington to their lowest point in decades and thrusting Griner into the spotlight. of a geopolitical conflict. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last week that the United States has made a “substantial offer” to Russia to release Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, who the United States also believes are being held illegally in Russia. A source said Washington was willing to trade convicted arms dealer Victor Bout, known as the “Death Merchant”. read more Moscow said no deal had yet been reached. An exchange is unlikely to happen before the verdict in Griner’s trial, but it could happen in the coming days. read more
‘ONE OF THE BIGGEST’
Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, played during the offseason for several Russian teams, a common move for WNBA players seeking to supplement incomes that are lower than their male counterparts. She became a naturalized citizen and won an Olympic bronze medal for Russia in 2008 and competed again in 2012, but said her Russian citizenship had since expired. Hammon — reportedly the first WNBA coach to be paid more than $1 million — described Griner as “one of the best players to ever play” and said it’s possible that booking an athlete at her level would have gotten a bigger response. . “It’s hard to imagine, though, that if it was, you know, LeBron James, that he would still be sitting there in jail,” Hammon said. “It’s hard not to let your mind go there.” Hammon said she has always supported the campaign to free Griner, but is speaking out as Griner’s trial draws to a close and Russia has a chance to send her home. Hammon said that as an athlete she was not political, but appealed to Putin and Russian authorities to show “mercy” and let Griner return to her wife in the United States. “If this was your daughter or your sister or your wife or anyone else, you can imagine the agony you went through waiting,” he said. “That’s enough”. He also warned that Russian athletes would suffer from the detention of a top athlete who was traveling to compete. “I think Mr Putin is a very big sports fan – to put all these athletes at risk, I mean it would be really unfortunate,” Hamon said. Russian sports teams and athletes have been banned from some international events because of the invasion of Ukraine, and Olympic officials have said Russia could be banned from the 2024 games in Paris. Russia has not faced any sporting sanctions for Griner’s detention. read more “If (Griner) had to serve a prison sentence, I think there would have to be bad repercussions internationally in the sports world,” Hammon said. “There are some ways to put pressure on Russia. I hope it doesn’t come to that.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Simon Lewis. Editing by Mary Milliken and Nick Zieminski Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
