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Michel VoebelESPN.com
World Basketball Affiliation Commissioner Kathy Engelbert expressed concern Monday about Phoenix Mercury participant Britney Grenier, and stated the league was doing the whole lot it may to “deliver her dwelling.”
Engelbert addressed the media forward of the league’s draft in New York, and Greiner — who was the league’s first choose in 2013 — instantly talked about it in her opening remarks. Greiner was detained at Moscow airport on February 17 after Russian authorities stated a search of her baggage revealed e-cigarette cartridges allegedly containing cannabis-derived oil, which carries a most sentence of 10 years in jail.
Russian media reported final month that Greiner’s detention had been prolonged till at the least Might 19. The twenty sixth season of the WNBA begins Might 6.
“That is an unimaginable scenario for BG,” Engelbert stated. “She continues to have our full help. Positive, we’re attempting the whole lot we will, each angle, working together with her authorized consultant, her agent, elected leaders, and administration. Simply everybody in our ecosystem to try to discover methods to get her dwelling safely and as shortly as attainable.”
Engelbert stated the league will work with Mercury in help of Griner’s charitable venture, known as BG’s Coronary heart and Sole Shoe Drive, this season. Collect drive new or used sneakers calmly for the homeless within the Phoenix space.
“It is going to occur in all 12 WNBA markets,” Engelbert stated. “The actions we might be doing are supposed to remind us of BG’s spirit of giving, doing the work she would have completed if she was right here, and the work she could be becoming a member of us in when she returned.”
ESPN’s Holly Rowe acknowledged in the course of the telecast that Mercury intends to pay Griner in full for 2023 ($227,900) and that the WNBA is contemplating giving the franchise some “relaxation” relating to the wage cap resulting from Griner’s absence.
Greiner, 31, was a WNBA prime choose from Baylor 9 years in the past and helped lead Mercury to the league championship in 2014 and the WNBA Finals final season. She can also be a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
“It’s clear that we’re in a really complicated geopolitical scenario with Russia and Ukraine,” Engelbert stated. “We get lots of help from the federal government, from the professionals. Her consultant is ready to go to Britney, we all know she is secure. However we need to return to her dwelling. We’re following the recommendation… There’s not a day that goes by and we don’t discuss to somebody who has opinions about what we’ve got been doing. And the way can we transfer ahead.
“I do know we’re all annoyed, however we have to be affected person. The gamers have been nice at following the recommendation they’re given and we’re getting it so as to not jeopardize her security in any means.”
Engelbert stated she instructed the fellows the identical factor she’d at all times instructed her daughter.
“I’ll go to the top of the earth that will help you in the event you ever get in hassle,” Engelbert stated. “And I say the identical about Britney Greiner.”
