After a grueling 10 months in a Russian prison and the dramatic prisoner swap that brought her home last December, WNBA star Brittney Griner takes the field with her team Phoenix Mercury, who fielded their first overall for a 10th season in 2013 to return. The Her Hoops Stats website was the first to report Griner’s signing.

The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021, which was one of the best years of her career, averaging 20.5 points and helping her team reach the WNBA Finals.

Griner’s new one-year deal will net her $165,100 — far less than the reported $1 million she earned Russia, where she played during the WNBA offseason for seven years. That ended a year ago, just a week before Russia invaded Ukraine and Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport for possession of less than a gram of cannabis oil.

Since her return to the US after the exchange Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, Griner kept a low profile. The first time she was seen in public was at a Martin Luther King Jr. event in Phoenix, where she lives, then later at the Phoenix Open, which followed at the the next day super bowl.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist (2016, 2020) did not attend USA Basketball’s training camp earlier this month, although the organization made it clear she was able to take all the time she needed to decide if and when to join Team USA wanted to play .

When it became clear that she would return to the basketball court sooner rather than later, the WNBA said it would address the issue of providing Griner with special travel accommodations, such as charter flights, for safety reasons.

“We are very aware of BG’s unique situation,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told AP earlier this month. “We planned and thought about it with security experts, BG’s side, our side. We’ll find the right time to comment on that when she signs with a team.”

Photo by Keeton Gale on Shutterstock