Watch: Steph Curry shouts out Brittney Griner in pre-game speech
On Tuesday night, the Golden State Warriors celebrated their 2022 NBA title and handed out rings to their players. But before they raised their championship banner to the rafters, Steph Curry took time to mention an WNBA player who has been jailed in Russia since February.
Curry told the TNT audience and the sold-out Chase Center crowd: "Continuing to use our platform, and the opportunity to shoutout a very special member of the basketball community: Brittney Griner's birthday is today. She's 32 years old. We want to continue to let her name be known, and we pray. The 243 days she's been wrongfully incarcerated in Russia, we hope that she comes home soon, and everybody's doing their part to get her home."
Griner was arrested on February 17 upon her return to Russia, where she plays for the powerhouse team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA's offseason. She was charged with possession of hash vape cartridges and held in detention until a trial in July, where she pled guilty, saying she "packed in haste and didn't intend to break Russian law." In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Her prosecution and detention are widely seen as political, as the United States and Russia have been effectively at war since Russia's invasion of Ukraine early this year. While Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in July that the Biden Administration had offered Russia a deal to bring Griner home, she remains incarcerated nearly three months later.
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