Brittney Griner speaks for the first time as a member of the Phoenix Mercury since her release

Brittney Griner has spoken for the first time as a member of the Phoenix Mercury WNBA franchise since arriving on US soil after being detained in Russia.

Greiner started crying during her press conference after a reporter struggled to keep her emotions in check and she started crying while being asked the opening question.

“I’m no stranger to hard times,” Greiner said of how she escaped arrest. ‘Just digging deep honestly.’

“Never focus on the now and look forward to what will happen.”

Griner initially thanked the media for the offer, which eventually played a role in her release before bizarrely asking a group of reporters to come over and cover the WNBA in the same way.

“I would encourage all of you to be in our first game and our entire season, as well as in the entire league, from start to finish. I expect to see the same coverage ’cause we have a great product.”

The 32-year-old was in a grateful mood, thanking Mercury, along with President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a host of others.

The controversial player admitted she was somewhat conscious of the support and offered words of advice to those in a situation in her time in Russia.

‘stay strong. Keep fighting, don’t give up. Just keep getting up, find a little routine and stick to that routine as best you can.

“We will not stop fighting, and we will not stop bringing awareness to all of us left behind now.”

The 6-foot-9 center has been playing professionally in Russia since 2014, and was returning to the country last February when she was stopped at a Moscow airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.

Ultimately, in August, she was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison on drug charges. A subsequent appeal was denied in October. However, she was released from a Russian penal colony on December 8 after President Joe Biden sanctioned the arms exchange, returning convicted arms dealer Victor Bout, known as the ‘dealer of death’, to Russia.

Griner was assigned to a Mordovian penal colony, an area known for its brutal prison system, until the Biden administration made a polarizing trade for her release. She was held in Russia for 10 months.

A CNN reporter asked Greener a multifaceted question that includes whether she will ever play overseas again.

I will never go abroad to play again unless I represent my country in the Olympics. If I make this team, it will be the only time I will ever leave American soil to represent the United States.

A CNN reporter asked if Griner and other WNBA players feel a “need” to play overseas. This comes though The average salary league-wide for 2022 is well over six figures.

I will say this, the primary reason so many of us go to such lengths is the wage gap. Many of us go there to earn income to support our families and ourselves.

I hope our league continues to grow. With as many people here as possible covering this now, I hope you’ll continue to cover our league, and show us.

“It’s a shame we have to leave our families for the holidays, you miss everything away. As much as I’d like to pay my light bill for the love of the game, I just can’t,” said Griner, who will earn $165,100 this season.

The former Baylor high-profile star, who said “it was nice to be back on American soil,” has ostensibly found a new level of gratitude for her country, despite her outspoken criticism of the nation. She had previously refused to stand for the national anthem. In 2020, she went so far as to suggest the WNBA “shouldn’t be playing the national anthem during our season” and she wouldn’t be on the field for The Star Spangled Banner.

Griner has stayed away from reporters since her release, but has made several notable public appearances, from a women’s empowerment luncheon hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona, where she was seen with Cheryl.

Since returning to the United States, Griner has signed a one-year deal with the Phoenix Mercury—the last WNBA team she played for before her detention. Griner’s first game will air on ESPN on May 19 against the Los Angeles Sparks.

She is preparing to release next year’s memoir about her 2022 arrest in Moscow, drug trial, and subsequent 10-month detention, the last few weeks of which she spent in a Russian penal colony.

“That day (in February) was the beginning of an incomprehensible period in my life that I am only now willing to share,” Greiner said in a statement released Tuesday by publisher Alfred Knopf.

She hopes her writers will help other Americans detained abroad, including Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich, who was arrested in Russia last month and charged with espionage; and Paul Whelan, who is being held on espionage charges.

Griner is an eight-time U.S. All-Star and one of only 11 players to win an Olympic gold medal, a FIBA ​​World Cup gold medal, a WNBA title, and an NCAA title, which she earned at Baylor in 2012.