The Daily Mail reports that Brittney Griner was earning $1.5million per off-season playing for the Moscow team backed by one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oligarch friends, which is six times more than her WNBA salary.
Also, the Russian media has released the mugshots of Brittney Griner following his arrest “at the airport in Moscow last month on suspicion of carrying a cannabis-filled vape pen.”
Here are details of Griner’s arrest and the chances of either being freed or imprisoned.
Griner, 31, was taken into custody at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport after returning to Russia from New York during a two-week break from play at the end of February. The exact date of her arrest is unclear and it remains unknown where she is now. The Wall Street Journal reports that she was scheduled to play on February 20, and that a flight arrived at the airport on February 17 which she may have been on.
She had been playing for the Moscow team UMMC Ekaterinburg and was earning $1.5million for the off-season – six times her WNBA salary with the Phoenix Mercury. UMMC Ekaterinburg is backed by Andrei Kozitsyn, a mineral tycoon listed among Putin’s richest associates.
The details on Griner’s arrest are scarce but Russian authorities claim she was carrying with her a vape pen filled with cannabis oil. Her wife and parents are calling out for answers given the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the US and Russia.
On Tuesday, Russian state TV broadcast a photograph of her in custody holding up a piece of paper. The image was too blurred to be able to make out what was written on the paper.
People are asking if this was an NBA player or Tom Brady, would it be getting more attention. The answer is yes, but that would never happen because even the last player on an NBA or NFL roster is making more than the top WNBA players. They have to play in Russia if they want to make a good living playing basketball.
The WNBA and the US government knew what was happening but wanted to keep it quiet and still do.
Flip to the next page to see Brittney Griner’s mugshots and her arrest.
