Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, left, high-five teammate Brittney Griner during the 2014 WNBA basketball game in Phoenix. Griner plans to return to Mercury on a one-year contract, a source told the AP.
Matt York / AP
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Matt York / AP
Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, left, high-five teammate Brittney Griner during the 2014 WNBA basketball game in Phoenix. Griner plans to return to Mercury on a one-year contract, a source told the AP.
Matt York / AP
Brittney Griner is returning to the Phoenix Mercury.
Griner, once a free agent, re-signed Mercury to a one-year contract according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Saturday because no announcement has been made.
Griner, 32, had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from 10 months of ordeal in Russia, including jail time in Russia. . Griner was arrested at an airport just outside Moscow for drug possession a year ago and sent home in a dramatic high-profile prisoner exchange in December.
The 6-foot-9 center back last played for Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 bounces that season.
The “Her Hoops Stats” website was the first to report Griner’s signing.
Griner, who was selected No. 1 in 2013 by Mercury, was listed Saturday on Phoenix’s list on the WNBA website.
Since returning home from Russia, Griner has not been noticed by the public, except for appearances at the Super Bowl, the Phoenix Open and the MLK Day event in Phoenix, where she lives.
She skipped a USA Basketball training camp earlier this month, but the organization has made it clear that she can take all the time it takes to decide if she wants to play for the USA again. Are not.
The WNBA said it would deal with providing Griner with special travel amenities, such as charter flights, after she signed the contract.
“We’re very understanding of BG’s unique situation,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told the AP earlier this month. “We’ve planned and considered it carefully with the security experts, the BG side, our side. We’ll find the right time to comment on this when she’s contracted with a team. .”
Earlier on Saturday, Mercury signed a multi-year contract with Diana Taurasi. The WNBA’s all-time top scorer has only played with Mercury since being picked as No. 1 by the team in 2004.
