Women’s basketball cheers Brittney Griner’s release: ‘The moment that we’ve all been praying for’

Throughout the 10 months that WNBA star Brittney Griner spent in detention in Russia, Dawn Staley was one of the biggest champions in the fight to gain her freedom.

Whether in daily campaigns on social media, many appearances in mainstream media, or games coaching South Carolina’s women’s basketball team, Staley has used her platforms to keep Griner’s name in the spotlight.

So it was fitting that Staley gave some of the most heartfelt reactions to the news of Griner’s release to freedom on Thursday.

“God’s grace is SUFFICIENT!” Staley wrote on Twitter. “@brittneygriner is home! I love you BG!”

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Soon thereafter, Staley went on ESPN to talk about a player she coached on the U.S. Olympic team in 2021.

“I was shocked, actually,” Staley said of Griner’s release. “Honestly, I cried. And I’m a girl from Philly — we don’t cry very easily. But I cried because this is the moment that we’ve all been praying for, for BG.”

Staley reflected on the persistence it took to keep up a campaign she started in February when Griner first was detained in Russia, where she plays during the WNBA offseason because of the league’s low salaries. Russian officials alleged they found vape cartridges in Griner’s luggage that had oil derived from cannabis. Just seven days later, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. government said in May that Griner was wrongfully detained. Griner went on trial in Russia in July, and, in August, she was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. After an appeal in late October, Griner was moved to a penal colony in early November.

“You know that one of our sisters has fallen, has fallen to a place in which it’s almost — I don’t want to say this, but it’s almost death-like,” Staley said as she wore the “WE ARE BG” pin she has worn throughout Griner’s detention.

“I’m like, ‘No, this can’t be happening,’” Staley continued. “And that is the thing that really drives you every day to put this pin on, [supporting Griner on TV], to put a post up on social media, to drive you every day to bring her home. To pray for her mental health, to pray for her family, to pray that no one’s ever put in a situation [like that].”

» READ MORE: As Dawn Staley’s influence in basketball keeps growing, so does the power of her beliefs

Staley gave widespread thanks to people who joined her advocacy, from famous athletes to fans.

“And I have to tip my hat to President [Joe] Biden, to Vice President [Kamala] Harris, to Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, to all the people who just worked behind the scenes when we didn’t know anything besides our advocacy,” she said. “This does not happen overnight. … As many months as it took Brittney to sit in the cell that she was in, it took that amount of time for us to bring her home. So I’m so happy that it was a collaborative effort for us to sit here, for us to cry, and hear our prayers answered much sooner than probably we thought.”

The WNBA players’ union, the WNBPA — which did the most of any organization to lobby for Griner’s freedom — issued a statement praising the news and thanking fans for their advocacy.

“We, as a union, have not been whole since Feb. 17, 2022. But, today, our [membership] is complete,” the statement said in part. “We express our deepest appreciation for anyone and everyone who supported our campaign, and thank the Biden administration for its continued efforts over the past 10 months to bring BG home. Whether you signed the petition, posted on social media, wrote a letter, wore a shirt, told your friends to advocate, or called our community to action — what you did made a difference.”

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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, a Collingswood native, had her say in a lunchtime news conference.

“I’m not a hugely emotional person, but I got very choked up,” she said. “I kind of knew for a couple of days that something might be happening, but you never know until it happens in that moment. Things fall through at the last minute.”

Engelbert dealt with geopolitical issues in her previous life leading global consulting behemoth Deloitte. This sort of thing isn’t necessarily what one signs up for when becoming a sports league commissioner, but Engelbert showed patience in seeing the process through.

“I, too, had that perspective, that everyone’s like, ‘She has to come home immediately,’” Engelbert said. “And I was like, ‘Well, number one is she has to come home safely.’ This is life here, and she’s in a country not known to support women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights and racial [rights].”

Engelbert praised Griner’s agent and lawyers, the White House, and the State Department for navigating the tangled path to Griner’s freedom, and she praised fans for their campaigning.

“The support and the outpouring of love and sympathy and empathy for what Britney was going through from the whole ecosystem, I can’t highlight that enough,” Engelbert said. “Presidents get elected to make tough calls. Leaders lead around very tough conflict situations like this, and it takes a lot of courage to get these kinds of deals done. I got to see a little more than most on the thought process, the strategy, and, again, [am] overjoyed with the results today.”

The WNBPA and the league also called for the release of Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen, who has been imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges since 2018.

“Today, we also have Paul Whelan and his family in our hearts,” the union’s statement said. “We will continue to advocate for the release of all wrongfully detained Americans and reaffirm our commitment to the Bring Our Families Home campaign.”