On Thursday, the United States of America woke up to great news that Brittney Griner was coming home after being detained in Russia since February. Griner has returned home after spending nearly 10 months in a Russian prison following her arrest for bringing vape cartridges containing hashish oil through a Moscow airport. Griner was freed from a Russian penal colony on Thursday in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner’s return to the U.S. sparked emotional reactions from many within the basketball community, including LeBron James.
On Thursday night during the Rams-Rauders game, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar was asked his thoughts about Griner being freed.
“I think it’s a great day. For us as Americans, I think having BG back, in the sports world, just having her family’s back, I know her wife misses her and her family misses her, her club misses her here in Phoenix,” LeBron said.
“To have her a part of the basketball brother and sisterhood once again, it’s a big day for us and what we do,” he added. “Kudos to the president, kudos to Kamala Harris and everyone that had something to do with it. Like Mav said, there’s a lot of people that’s unlawfully detained right now. We hope we can get them all.”
Griner was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on Feb. 17 after Russian authorities said she had vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.
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Griner plead guilty and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.
While getting accumulated to her new life, Griner would cut off her signature dreadlocks to deal with the freezing temperatures she had to deal with while in a Russian colony.
She is unlikely to ever return to Russia to play professional basketball, which is where she made seven figures.
