WNBA Player Brittney Griner and Her Upcoming Memoir

Brittney Griner, a 32-year-old, well-known basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women’s National Basketball Association, a six-time WNBA All-Star, and the recipient of two gold Olympic medals, is in the process of writing an intimate memoir discussing her controversial 10-month Russian detainment caused by her carrying a vape cartridge containing THC through Moscow airport security. 

In August of 2022, Griner was found guilty of smuggling illegal drugs into the country and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. She was released in a prisoner swap with Russian Arms Dealer Viktor Bout in December of 2022 after months of outcries and infuriation from citizens across the globe. The swap occurred in the United Arab Emirates; the player was then flown to San Antonio, TX where she was reunited with her wife Cherelle Griner. The couple met at Baylor University, got engaged in 2018, and were later married in June 2019.

President Joe Biden has worked hard to bring Griner home and was recognized by numerous LGBTQ organizations for her safe return back to the United States.

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson states, “The wait is over. Brittney Griner is coming home, and not a moment too soon. Brittney is so much more than a WNBA superstar and Olympian; she is an American hero who had undergone unfathomable hardship.” 

Griner shared an Instagram post stating, “After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world.”

Her memoir is set to be published in paperback, hardcover, e-book, and as an audiobook in the sspring of 2024. It will discuss how the global #WeAreBG movement backed her during her formidable time in Russia’s custody, and why Griner had traveled there in the first place to rejoin the UMMC Ekaterinburg basketball team.

The player will be seen back on the courts again playing in pre-season games as she recently re-signed with her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury. However, during a press conference in Phoenix on April 27, Griner released that she would never be traveling overseas to play again.

She states, “If I make that (U.S.) team, that would be the only time I’ll leave the U.S. soil, and that’s just to represent the USA.”