{"id":1446694,"date":"2022-04-19T18:44:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T22:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1446694"},"modified":"2022-04-19T18:44:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T22:44:58","slug":"we-all-are-concerned-about-her-phoenix-mercury-thinking-of-brittney-griner-as-season-draws-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/we-all-are-concerned-about-her-phoenix-mercury-thinking-of-brittney-griner-as-season-draws-near\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We All Are Concerned About Her\u2019: Phoenix Mercury Thinking Of Brittney Griner As Season Draws Near"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwe-all-are-concerned-about-her-phoenix-mercury-thinking-of-brittney-griner-as-season-draws-near%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1446694&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1235812299.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>It\u2019s now been two months since WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at a Russian airport near Moscow <\/span><span>after Russian Federal Customs Service officials said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil after searching her luggage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Her case has surprisingly stayed under the radar, with WNBA great Lisa Leslie saying in March that she was told not to make a \u201cbig fuss\u201d over Griner\u2019s arrest lest she be used as a pawn by Russia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhat we were told, and again this is all sort of passed along through hearsay, but what we were told was to not make a big fuss about it so that they could not use her as a pawn, so to speak, in this situation in the war,\u201d Leslie <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/03\/25\/sport\/lisa-leslie-brittney-griner-spt\/index.html\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cSo, to make it like it\u2019s not that important or don\u2019t make it where we\u2019re like, \u2018Free Brittney\u2019 and we start this campaign, and then it becomes something that they can use.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But as WNBA players report to training camp, Griner is very much on the minds of her teammates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s tough. We all are concerned about her,\u201d Phoenix Mercury coach <\/span><span>Vanessa Nygaard<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/33764119\/phoenix-mercury-prepare-upcoming-wnba-season-absent-brittney-griner-remains-minds\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span> Monday, according to ESPN. \u201cIt is something that we think about, and we pray to make sure that she is safe and that she comes home quickly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe feel confident that everything is being done to make sure that she can get back as quickly as possible, that everybody is working behind the scenes to make that happen,\u201d Nygaard continued. \u201cI definitely wake up sometimes in the middle of the night worried about BG. All we can do is keep doing what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In March, it was reported that Griner\u2019s detention had been extended until May 19, meaning the WNBA star will spend at least one more month in Russian custody.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While information on Griner\u2019s condition has been sparse, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN that an official from the U.S. Embassy was finally \u201cgranted consular access to Brittney Griner\u201d in late March.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWithin the past couple hours, an official from our embassy has been granted consular access to Brittney Griner,\u201d Price said on CNN. \u201cWe were able to check on her condition. We will continue to work very closely with her legal team, with her broader network to see to it that she is treated fairly. That is a message that we will continue to convey in no uncertain terms to the Russian Federation.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Price was able to provide an update on her condition, saying that Griner was in \u201cgood condition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi, who has played professionally in Russia during her career, said that Griner\u2019s detention may change the way WNBA players look at playing overseas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a very delicate situation,\u201d Taurasi <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/33764119\/phoenix-mercury-prepare-upcoming-wnba-season-absent-brittney-griner-remains-minds\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cI spent 10 years [in Russia], so I know the way things work there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous world everywhere you go,\u201d Taurasi continued. \u201cIt might change the perspective of different [WNBA players] going overseas. That\u2019s a personal choice people are gonna have to make.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to keep praying for her,\u201d guard Sophie Cunningham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.12news.com\/article\/sports\/wnba\/mercury\/phoenix-mercury-open-training-camp-without-brittney-griner-russia\/75-e04cc195-8b34-415d-87b7-0b0e9ec5b893\">said<\/a>. \u201cWe hope she\u2019s well. No one wants to be in her situation. We miss her like crazy, so we\u2019re still just trying to do good things around the community, you know, her shoe drive, so if you want to do anything to support her, let\u2019s do that but (we\u2019re) just praying for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>The season will begin for Phoenix on May 6 against the Las Vegas Aces.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/utm.io\/ueuP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member now and join our mission<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s now been two months since WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at a Russian airport near Moscow after Russian Federal Customs Service officials said they found vape cartridges containing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":1446719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1446694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1446694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1446719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1446694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1446694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1446694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}