W NBA star Brittney Griner is having a long anticipated
homecoming back to the basketba court to do what she
does best. And that's hoop y'all. Griner was arrested
at a Moscow airport in 2022 after authorities said the
found cannabis oil Vape cartridges in her luggage. She
spent nearly 10 months in Russian detention before she
was released during a prisoner swap. Last December
Scripps news national correspon James Packard is in
Los Angeles where the L A Sparks are hosting the
Phoenix Mercury Grinders team, James Griner is back
tonight. What's the mood out there, man What's the,
what's the vibes like Man There's a lot of excitement
here, Christian, I mean, just in the last half hour or
so, fans have really started to show up in droves for
tonight's game. And you've seen lot of garb, a lot of
Brittney Griner shirts and butt And in fact, one of
the organizations that helped get her back to the
United States, bring our families home is out here
trying to promote what they do and get some visibility
for them as well because it's not just Brittney Griner
are many other family members who are captured overse
and who that organization and others work to get back
as far as the sports side of this. There are a lot of
people watching to see how she starts that
rehabilitation. If you will bac to the all star player,
she was, it's not going to be overnight. She's not
going to be playing tonight the way she played before
her detention in 2022. It's going to take time and her
teammates are ready to be patient with that and support
her all the way. But it's exciting just in and of
itself having her back on that court. I,I got to tell
you that earlier today, we watched the shoot around
which is sort of just a warm up if you will something.
We have access to his media in the morning before gam
and she was there on the court shooting hoops and
joking around with her teammate and seem to be in
really good spirits. It's an awesome thing to see James.
I know you're not a scout, but how did she look out
there Is it the, is it the old Griner Is she back to it
Oh, yeah. Let me give you my expertise on that
Christian. She's a professional basketball player.
looked awesome. I love that. Her, her detainment could
have a pretty lasting impact on the sport. I know that
she said before, you know, um, uh, she wasn't going
back overseas unless she was playing with the, with the
Olympic basketball team. What's the discussion like
tonight about how this league could look different as a
result of Grier's experience Yeah. You know, it's so
interesting because she is one of the better paid
players in this league, but that doesn't mean that
she's just rolling in the dough. Like lebron James, the
highest paid player in the W NBA makes just over a
quarter million dollars a year. The highest paid player
in the NBA makes close to $50 million a year. So think
about the pay disparity there and that's not just the
about sponsorship deals either. That's the NBA salary.
So there's a huge pay disparity and an attention
disparity. And a lot of these players go overseas to
literally supplement their inco when they're in the
off season. And now there's a lot of people who are
more wary of that, dozens of players did go overseas
this last off season despite Grier's detainment, non
of them to Russia. But now there's going to be less
interest in that and there's some concern about how do
you make sure that you sustain players financially
physically when they're in the off season so that
they're ready to jump back into the season when it
returns in the summer time. I actually got an
opportunity to listen to Diana test the guard here on
the Phoenix Mercury and one of res teammates talk about
that very thing. I think this is going to be a big
challenge for not only B G but really for the W B
people will stop going overseas. You know, the off
season programming is no joke. It's five months and you
have to do it every single day. And if you think you
can, you know, skip months or weeks and be in tip top
shape, it just doesn't work that way. So I think it's
going to be, I think a league challenge and you've
heard Griner talk about this too, you know, in order to
fix those issues, pay disparity attention, dispar
We need this attention on the W N B right now to stay.
It's not just about Brittney Griner, it's not just
about sort of the drama of being detained in Russia and
finding her way back 10 months later and then returning
to a team she was on despite missing a season. That
a wonderful, incredible story, but it's much bigger
than that and she hopes that that attention stays on
the league this season.