Brittney Griner, the famous American National Basketball player is a legend player of Phoenix Mercury which is in association with Women NBA. The WNBA star opens up about her miserable experience of around 10 months in the Russian prison.
Early Life
She came into the world on 18th October, 1990 in Houston, Texas, in the United States. She completed her schooling from Nimitz High School and went for further education in Baylor in the year 2009. She was in the college basketball team and played for Baylor Lady Bears. She was noticed and got selected by the Phoenix Mercury basketball team in 2009. She was named as the AP Player of the year in 2012.
She is been awarded multiple times for her exclusive talent. She was into basketball since her childhood and retained her first position among the nation’s women in her school days. She got selected in the Olympics team and justified her selection with her prolific performance. She was the most outstanding player of the Final Four. She was in the winning team of 2016 Olympics team and stood 2nd in 2020 Olympics.
Height
She is a 6 feet 9 inch tall American star basketball player and weighs around 93 kg.
Family & Career
Brittney Griner was born to Raymond Griner and Sandra Griner in Houston, Texas. She has two sibling sisters Pier Griner, Shkera Griner, and a brother Decarlo Griner. She is an American National. Her birth sign is Libra. She believes in Christianity and follows Christian culture.
The star player of Phoenix Mercury has been always the first pick for the team. She is amongst the WNBA all-star players with her amassing performance for the team. She is considered to be the wall for the opponents with her extra-ordinary defense skills. She has an average of 3 blocks per game. She missed her opportunity to play in the WNBA all-star match due to her knee injury and was substituted by Tina Thompson.
She was in the interest to improve her well-going career with her stats of 3.7 blocks/game, 15.6 scoring points/game, and 8 rebounds/game in the 2014 WNBA season. She along with Candice Dupree, and Diana Taurasi were considered as the terrific trio of the Phoenix Mercury and led to the championship in the series.
Despite of her seven match suspension following her domestic violence trial, she managed to achieve a career high record of 4 blocks/game in her WNBA 2015 season. In the absence of the star player Diana Taurasi Mercury managed to reach in the playoffs in 2015 and then faced a defeat against Minnesota Lynx, who went on to win the 2015 WNBA title.
She had an amassing season in 2017 with her 38 scoring points and 9 rebounds in the scintillating win against Indiana Fever. She missed 8 matches in 2017 season with her knee injury. Mercury advanced in the semifinals with Griner’s star performance in the games and got defeated in the semis by Los Angeles Sparks.
Mercury were not fortunate in the 2018-19 & 2020 season with their loss in the stage games, and the elimination matches. She also starred in the overseas in the off period of WNBA season. She has been fortunate to play in China and Russia in the WNBA off-season. Brittney Griner Russian basketball campaign was a life turning moment for her career.
Personal Life
The legend Mercury basketball star announced herself as a Lesbian in an interview with SI.com. She expressed her grief of getting bullied in her childhood and shown interest to work for the children to bring awareness the bullying issue, especially in context of LGBT people. She described her disappointment of not being accepted by her father of being a Lesbian. Brittney Griner parents are not in acceptance yet about her being a Lesbian.
She got featured on ESPN magazine cover page and also had an appearance in the Taboo issue. She showed her love for her favorite animal snake by a picture of her holding a snake and asked the people to look at them with a different perspective.
She has been the first gay to be in contract with the brand and do endorsements for Nike. She is in continuous modeling assignments with the brand for their menswear clothes barring the gender specifics.
She got engaged to her WNBA mate Glory Johnson on 14th August, 2014. Soon they were arrested in April, 2015 of assault charges with injuries in the fight in their Arizona home. Following the incident, they still got married in the very next month on 15th May, 2015. The couple announced Glory’s pregnancy on 4th June and the next day Griner filed charges of fraud against Glory. Brittney Griner wife Glory was blessed with twin girls and Griner was compelled to pay child support to Glory. They parted their ways in 2016 and Brittney got engaged to Cherelle and tied the knots in June 2019.
Brittney Griner national anthem stand: She got into the controversy to stop playing of nation anthem before the sporting events in protest of Breonna Taylor killing as a part of George Floyd protest.
Brittney Griner felt of killing herself in Russian prison
The WNBA star Brittney Griner revealed her emotions in an interview on 1st May, 2024, Wednesday. She admitted of developing the thoughts of taking her life in the Russian prison after she was arrested on drug-related charges. She later dropped the idea as she felt that the Russian government would not even hand over the body to her family with the ongoing Ukraine-Russia rivalry that created tensions between the United States and Russia too. The interview lasted for an hour where she shared her experience in Russian prison.
Further, she was impelled to pen down a forgiveness letter to the Russian leader thanking him, she was not willing to do so but finally agreed as she was in a hurry to come back home. Her book Coming Home is about to make its release on 7th May where she has shared the details of her miserable time in the prison and her thoughts on the prison trade that was made between Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout and her by the Russians.
What is Brittney Griner Net worth?
The American basketball star is sourced to earn from her basketball matches and also from her endorsements with various top brands and commercials. She is estimated to have a net worth of around $5million.
FAQs:
Is Brittney Griner a man?
- No, she is a women and is married to Cherelle Griner since 2019. Brittney Griner wife Cherelle Watson came in her life after Brittney Griner ex-wife Glory moved out of Griner life.
Is Brittney Griner transgender?
- No, she is a famous women basketball star with outstanding achievements in her field.
What is the number of Brittney Griner dunk?
- She has 23 dunks in her career. She scored 17 dunks in her regular season, one in the final four, 5 in all-star game.
Is Brittney Griner in WNBA 2024?
- Brittney is all set to take on the defending champions Las Vegas Aces in the opening match playing for her team Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA 11th season that is about to commence from 14th May, 2024.
