An arrest and guilty plea that led her to miss multiple WNBA games.
And this one was way before she was detained in Russia.
What else don't you know about Brittney Griner.
When she was only in high school in her hometown of Houston, Texas, Brittney Griner made national
headlines as a basketball prodigy.
As ESPN details, she began practicing with the boys' basketball team at her high school
when she was a sophomore, the same year she averaged 23 points, 11 rebounds, and six blocks.
It was around this time that she began training in order to dunk and received special coaching
from her high school's football coaches to build up leg strength.
A story by Houston's NBC affiliate, KPRC, included footage of her dunking, and the clip
went viral on YouTube.
It caught the attention of NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, which led to a meeting between the two.
Griner was compared by coaches to another female basketball prodigy, Candace Parker,
but many agreed that Griner's special talent was unprecedented among girls her age and
put her in a class above the rest.
Although blessed with prodigious talent, Brittney Griner didn't have an easy childhood.
She was bullied not only for her towering stature but for being gay, as well.
In an interview with the Associated Press Griner said that she was bullied as a child
but that she eventually overcame the experience and wanted to devote her time to helping children
and the LGBTQ+ community.
However, Griner didn't find respite even at home.
She wrote in her memoir, In My Skin, that she was a senior in high school when she told
her father she was a lesbian.
He got angry and forced her to leave home.
As her mother recalled,
"He wouldn't say anything, and there were times when he wouldn't talk to her."
And as a public figure who is openly gay, Griner's rise to stardom in socially conservative
spaces often became personal.
While at Baylor University, a college with Christian values, the student handbook forbade
homosexuality and LGBTQ+ advocacy.
Although Griner first felt at ease after her teammates welcomed her, her coach began urging
her to stay quiet about her personal life.
When Griner posted something romantic on Valentine's Day for her girlfriend on Twitter, she was
forced by the coach to take it down.
While only in college, Brittney Griner was among the 21 finalists for the 2012 U.S. Women's
Olympic Basketball team.
To put it in perspective, a college athlete hadn't been chosen for the women's team since 1988.
The honor was all the more impressive considering the company she was in; the other finalists
were Olympic gold medalists, WNBA champions, and winners of international championships
from the European league.
But she never made it to the 2012 Olympics.
She released a statement and declined the offer to go to London, citing school obligations
and an illness in the family.
As it was, many believed that a spot on the team would've been given to her if she agreed.
Coach Geno Auriemma initially announced only 11 of the 12 spots, and analysts assumed he
was holding out hope that Griner would consent to join.
He went on the record saying that he was a big fan of Griner's and believed she would
increase their chances of winning, according to the Associated Press.
But that wasn't the end of Griner's Olympic aspirations.
Griner did eventually make it to the 2016 women's Olympic team in Rio, aiding in their victory.
She was selected again for her second Olympics in 2021, winning gold while playing for the United States.
Brittney Griner doesn't just hold the records for dunks in the WNBA.
She set a record in just her debut for the league.
In her first game for the Phoenix Mercury against the Chicago Sky in 2013, her two dunks
in a single game made her the first player in WNBA history to do so, reports the Huffington Post.
And the dunks kept on coming.
By the 2021 playoffs, Griner had 23 career dunks — 17 occurred in the regular season.
To put it in perspective, the league had only seven players dunk in its entire history.
To account for most of the WNBA's dunking record is pretty monumental, and Griner thought
so too, calling it a pretty monumental feat to be the leader.
Interestingly, however, the most dunks she's ever made came during the 2021 season, the
most recent season she's played for the league.
Why?
She's afraid of getting too old.
Once she turned 30, Griner was afraid that her physical abilities would start to slow down.
Because of that, Griner made it her mission to pump up her tally.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to show the world that women can dunk, which Griner believes
is very important.
In May 2015, Brittney Griner and her then-wife, Glory Johnson, were suspended from the WNBA
as a result of a domestic violence issue, according to the New York Times.
A month before, Griner and Johnson were arrested in their home in Phoenix, Arizona, and were
charged with disorderly conduct.
Johnson's sister called the police after the couple's verbal fight became physical, and
the two were unable to be separated, the Times reported.
Although they didn't need any immediate medical treatment, Griner received a bite wound on
her finger, and Johnson was later found to have a concussion.
"It was like… like a schoolyard fight."
Griner said the altercation came as a result of all the pressure bearing down on her and Johnson.
They were beginning a new life together, having just bought a house, and were only a month
away from their wedding.
Griner eventually pleaded guilty and was ordered to complete 26 weeks of domestic violence counseling.
They were both suspended 17 games, the longest suspension of WNBA history.
Many athletes voiced concerns about the national anthem amid the Black Lives Matter protests
in 2020, and Brittney Griner was among them.
As AzCentral details, during the season opener, Griner's team was absent from the floor while
the national anthem played in honor of the late Breonna Taylor, and Griner said she would
keep the pattern going for all games.
During a teleconference, she went even further and said that the National Anthem shouldn't
be played at all for WNBA games in order to bring attention to police brutality.
She tempered her comments noting that she takes pride in her country and respects the
men and women who protect it.
She also said that her father was a Vietnam veteran and an officer for 30 years, and Griner
herself wanted to be a policewoman as a child.
Griner explored other ways to remember Taylor, who was killed by police during a raid of
her home in 2020.
"I don't think I ever heard so many gunshots like all at the same time."
During that season, Griner wore Taylor's name on the back of her jersey.
This was in addition to her established reputation for political and social activism, having
raised money for COVID-19 relief funds and Arizona animal shelters.
There's one sad detail underneath all the drama of Brittney Griner's arrest in Russia
that sometimes gets forgotten: the reason why she was there in the first place.
She wasn't a tourist visiting Lenin's mausoleum or snowboarding the Red Valley.
Instead, Griner was in Russia because she received a better salary there than in the WNBA.
As a player for the UMMC Ekaterinburg, Griner received more than $1 million a season.
In comparison, Griner earned $221,450 for the 2021-2022 WNBA season, according to Fox Business.
Griner isn't the only WNBA player to play overseas; approximately 70 players took advantage
of the international pay for the 2022 off-season, according to The New York Times.
In fact, Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones played for the same Russian team as Griner
but managed to escape shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
And it seems the international deal is a hard one to refuse; WNBA legend Sue Bird said that
the pay essentially made her a millionaire, according to 60 Minutes.
Brittney Griner's detainment in Russia has been framed as a political move by many analysts,
so it's easy to forget that Griner has many friends in Russia.
During court proceedings, one of her attorneys, Alexander Boycov, told the court about the
friendships and mutual respect she developed with her UMMC Ekaterinburg teammates, having
led them to multiple championships.
He also said Griner's imprisonment contradicted Russia's previous efforts to depoliticize
sports, according to Jezebel.
At her sentencing hearing, Griner held up a photo of her Russian team, who she had intended
on joining for their playoff season before being arrested at an airport in Moscow.
She said the young female fans who gathered in the stands to watch her play encouraged
her to return season after season.
Griner's Ekaterinburg teammate and captain, Evgeniya Belyakova, and the team's general
manager, Maxim Ryabkov, were presented as character witnesses.
And Griner didn't just make friends through basketball.
She's made friends in prison, too.
In court, her lawyer described the sympathy Griner earned from guards and other prison
inmates, who often shouted to her as she walked by,
"Brittney, everything will be okay!"
Although Brittney Griner pled guilty to the charges brought by the Russian court, she
still doesn't know how cannabis oil landed in her luggages, according to the Associated Press.
Griner said she packed in haste while recovering from COVID-19.
She assured the court she never intended on bringing the vape cartridges containing hashish
oil to Russia and was aware of Russia's laws toward cannabis.
She said she used the oil as treatment for sports injuries and had a doctor's recommendations
for its usage.
A costly accident, but an accident nevertheless.
"But I had no intent to break any Russian laws."
Immediately upon news of Griner's detainment, people speculated that the charges were politically motivated.
As the New York Times notes, in the past, U.S. officials accused Russia of convicting
American citizens on phony charges, and if that's the case now, then Griner's arrest
was merely a means for Russia to gain political leverage.
Congressman Joaquin Castro added to this narrative when he accused Russia of using Griner as
a political pawn and compared the situation to the arrest of Trevor Reed, whose family
and supporters maintain that his charges of assaulting Russian police officers were baseless.
Long-distance relationships are hard enough without knowing your loved one is imprisoned
in an enemy state.
But so it is with Brittney and Cherelle Griner.
The two have managed to keep in contact, in varying forms, throughout Brittney's legal process.
During a break from court proceedings, Brittney took advantage of a brief interview with ABC
News to convey a message for her overseas spouse, saying,
"Good luck on the bar exam."
The couple mainly communicated through letters, although the letters weren't consistent.
Sadly, their fourth anniversary came and went as Brittney sat in prison, but U.S. officials
nearly allowed them an opportunity to speak on the phone, which they hadn't done since
Brittney was first arrested.
However, an apparent logistical error forced them to reschedule.
The experience was incredibly tough for Cherelle, who refused to watch the broadcasting of Brittney's
trial in Russia for the sake of her mental health.
Cherelle was sometimes heartbroken reading Brittney's letters, since Brittney kept asking
for an update on President Joe Biden's response, which hadn't come.
Brittney then took it upon herself to write to Biden, and Cherelle eventually received
a call from the president.
As for Brittney's health, Cherelle personally addressed the issue in letters, fearing that
photos and updates from Russian authorities were fraudulent and attempts at spreading disinformation.
A "penal colony" might sound like something out of another, long-gone century, but that's
exactly where Brittany Griner is headed — and the experience will be as alien to her as
you'd expect.
For the next nine-and-a-half years, if she doesn't get swapped with a Russian prisoner
or she loses her appeal, Griner will have to work as a seamstress or woodworker, depending
on the specific colony, according to The Washington Post.
There's also cleaning and work related to feeding prisoners to be done.
But according to Ivan Melnikov, the vice president of the Russian Department of the International
Human Rights Defense Committee, Griner can probably find work closer to comfort: coaching basketball.
But it all depends on how lenient the prison governor is.
Otherwise, the outlook is grim, with political prisoner Alexei Navalny calling Penal Colony
No.2 where he is imprisoned, quote, "our friendly concentration camp," according to the Washington Post.