Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets kicked off the NBA season with an impassioned plea to President Biden to bring Brittney Griner home.

“I appreciate that we can share this floor together, all of us as brothers. But the big picture that’s going on in the world is free, our sister, Brittney Griner, please. Please, POTUS, do your job. Everyone does their job. Please take our sister home. And we wouldn’t be doing our job to the best of our ability if we didn’t stand by what we believe in,” Irving on the Nets said on opening night against the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.

Kyrie thanked the audience for coming out for the opening game, prompting fans in the stands to chant his name.

His remarks follow those of Steph Curry Tuesday night when he demanded Griner’s release during the most prominent moment of the NBA’s opening night – the Warriors’ ring ceremony. Tuesday October 18th was Griner’s 32nd^nd Birthday.

The seven-time WNBA All-Star is in her ninth month in a Russian prison for having less than a gram of cannabis oil in her suitcase when entering a Moscow airport to end their seventh season with Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg.

Continue reading: Why don’t Russian billionaires and owners of Brittney Griner’s basketball team help get her out of jail?

Nine years in a Russian penal colony

Griner was sentenced on 4.8 after admitting at her trial that in her rush to pack for her trip back to Moscow, she forgot to remove the cannabis to end the basketball season. Greiner is a legal medical marijuana patient In the US, she was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.

Is a prisoner swap in the works?

In recent months, the White House and the Kremlin apparently in talks about a prisoner exchange. As a matter of fact, Victor fightconvicted Russian arms dealer and former KGB colleague of Vladimir Putin, was considered Russia’s choice for a swap. Although there seems to be some movement in these negotiations…