Source: Lance King / Getty
Brittney Griner will finally tell her story. The WNBA player who played the 2022-23 season for the Phoenix Mercury was detained in a Russian prison in 2022. She was convicted of bringing medically prescribed vape cartridges to Russia and sentenced to nine years.
Her wife Cherelle and others advocated for her release, and after almost a year, Griner was released and returned to the Mercury. Though she did talk about her ordeal during her return to the court, she did so briefly as she adjusted to her return to basketball.
Now, she’ll share more of her story via a deal she recently signed with Disney that includes a documentary via ESPN Films and a scripted series. Cherelle will be an executive producer on the projects.
“The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life, and I am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the world,” Brittney said in a statement. “I’m proud to partner with ESPN and Disney to share this very personal story because of its incredible potential to inspire hope around the world and their proven ability to do just that.”
Griner’s release was secured by the Biden-Harris Administration, who approved a prisoner swap that sent arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia. Once named the Merchant of Death, Bout served 14 years of a 25-year sentence in the United States. ESPN interviewed Bout last week on how the swap came about.
He says that he knew who Griner was due to her prominence as a basketball star in Russia and that he first heard he might be part of the prisoner swap through the media. Bout denies trying to sell arms, saying that the conspiracy charges he was convicted on don’t exist in Russia and in many other countries. That’s why he says he could relate to Griner because of the outrage his case generated in Russia.
“I feel bad or sorry about any person who is going to be a pawn or used despite whether they committed something or not,” Bout told ESPN. “Publicity is a multiplying figure, which really kills you if you are not strong enough to handle it.”
He added that he feels for her because “the normal person has to pay a price when we have politicians on both sides trying to play chess on this big board they call geopolitics.”
Though no dates or times have been announced, it is expected that the documentary will be aired sometime in 2024.
