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WNBA star Brittney Griner is back on the basketball court for the first time since being freed from Russian detainment earlier in December.
According to ESPN, Brittney Griner returned to the court shortly after arriving at Fort Sam in Houston, Texas. That day, she scored a dunk for the first time in nearly ten months but her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said it’s still unclear if Griner plans to return to the league.
“If she wants to play, it will be for her to share. She has the holidays to rest and decide what’s next without any pressure. She’s doing really, really well. She seems to have endured this in pretty incredible ways,” Colas explained. She added that Griner, who’s been relatively quiet since her return, will most likely release a statement this week.
News Onyx reported that the two-time Olympic gold medalist was freed from Russian detainment, as President Joe Biden struck a prisoner swap deal for a convicted arms dealer, Viktor Bout. Biden announced her release during a press conference at the White House on Dec. 8. He shared that the hooper was “safe” and “on the way home.”
Yahoo! Sports reported that the Griner spoke with Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens for most of the ride home.
“When she finally got on to the U.S. plane, I said, ‘Brittney, you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. Here’s your seat. Please feel free to decompress. We’ll give you your space,’” Carstens, who played a huge role in helping to secure Griner’s release from a Russian prison.
He additionally revealed that the WNBA player was seemingly ready to speak.
“She said, ‘Oh no, I’ve been in prison 10 months now listening to Russian; I want to talk. But first of all, who are these guys?’ And she moved right past me and went to every member on that crew, looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them, and got their names, making a personal connection with them. It was really amazing,” he said.