Brittney Griner says she'll play basketball in Arizona again
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Brittney Griner said she's “grateful” to be back in the United States and plans on playing basketball again next season for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. After months of strained negotiations, and an extraordinarily rare public revelation by the Biden administration that it had made a “substantial proposal” to bring home Griner and another detained American, Paul Whelan, the case resolved last week with a prisoner swap in which the WNBA star was exchanged in the United Arab Emirates for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. “President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too,” Griner said. While WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she was going to give Griner all the time she needed to decide whether she wanted to play basketball again, Griner made it clear that: "I intend to play basketball for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury this season, and in doing so, I look forward to being able to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who advocated, wrote, and posted for me in person soon.” “Amazing timing for her to be home before the holidays,” Engelbert told the AP in an interview Thursday.