Brittney Griner is going to Atlanta!
Griner has signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Dream, according to ESPN, after spending 11 seasons with the Phoenix Mercury since joining the WNBA in 2013.
Griner, who is presently a free agent, replied to the news on Tuesday, Jan. 28, with an Instagram video. “So free agency has been everything I wanted it to be,” Griner, 34, stated in the video.
“I found where I wanted to go. And, to be honest, what finally influenced my decision was the team, the players as people, and then my family,” she explained.
Griner stated that she is eager to join her new squad and show fans a different side of her.
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“You understand that was a difficult decision. You are abandoning what you know, which I have known for my whole career. But there’s also the excitement of, “Okay, this is a rebrand, so I get to show them something new.”
The six-time WNBA All-Star departs the Mercury as the team’s largest free agent signing in history, having won many championships, including the WNBA title in 2014.
Griner has loved being back on the court for two seasons, having been freed from a Russian jail in December 2022 after a 10-month detention.
Griner was first sentenced to nine years in jail for cocaine smuggling but was released in a one-for-one prisoner swap with international weapons dealer Viktor Bout.
Former President Joe Biden approved the deal on December 8, 2022, and wrote on X about Griner’s long-awaited homecoming home.
“I just spoke to Brittney Griner. She is safe. She is on an airplane. “She’s on her way home,” Biden wrote at the time, accompanying photos of himself, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Griner’s wife Cherelle.
Griner was in tears as the national song played at the team’s medal ceremony at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they won gold with Team USA.
“My nation fought for me to come back. And I was able to bring back gold for my country. “There’s no better feeling,” Griner stated after the win on August 11.