The 2023 WNBA season is officially open. The most-watched moment on Friday night was, you guessed it, when Brittney Griner took the seat at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where her performance received a standing ovation from the street crowd.

Griner, who was playing her first WNBA game in nearly 600 days, including 10 months in a Russian prison, made an emotional return to the court, which included a pre-game hug from Vice President Kamala Harris.

VP Harris met with players from both teams, the Mercury and LA Sparks, before the game and thanked them for their support while Griner was in Russian custody after being arrested at a Moscow airport in February 2022 with cannabis oil in her bag was week before Russia invaded Ukraine. Griner who was in her 7th year to play for a Russian basketball team, was released in December as part of a prisoner swap for Vladimir Putin’s buddy and notorious arms dealer Victor Bout.

“I know that was hard and that was so hard for you,” Harris said in the dressing room ahead of Friday night’s hint. “A team is a team, that’s family.”

Forward for the LA Sparks and President of the WNBA Players’ Union Nneka Ogwumike thanked Harris and the Biden administration for securing Griner’s release.

Griner, the 1.90 meter tall center player turned 32 in a Moscow jail, led her team against the LA Sparks, scoring 18 points on 7 of 9 shots from the field, with six rebounds and four blocks in 25 minutes of play, though her team lost to the Sparks 94-71.

The eight-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist told reporters after Friday’s game that she wasn’t happy with her performance, calling it “not good enough”.

“It was nice to be back on the pitch in a real game,” said Griner. “The love from the fans when I came out was incredible…I definitely feel it. I still felt it when I was over there.”

When asked by reporters how her Russia ordeal changed her as…