NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the NBA is working “side by side” with the WNBA to help bring Brittney Griner back to the United States.
Silver was asked about the NBA’s role in the Griner situation during a post-Draft Lottery interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews on Tuesday night.
“The league, and by that I mean the WNBA and its sister league, the NBA, we have a big responsibility to Brittney Griner. She’s one of our players,” he said.
NBA in contact with White House
“We have been in contact with the White House, the State Department, hostage negotiators, all levels of government and also through the private sector,” Silver said. “Our number one priority is his health and safety and making sure he gets out of Russia.”
Griner has now been unjustly detained by the Russian government for 89 days. She was arrested after authorities allegedly found vape cartridges containing cannabis-derived oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport in February.
Griner could spend 10 years in prison in Russia
Last week, Griner’s pre-trial detention period was extended by a month. The 31-year-old Phoenix Mercury superstar could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of drug trafficking charges.
While Silver, the WNBA and other U.S. officials have made it abundantly clear that they are working hard to bring Griner home, there has been no visible progress toward doing so.
Silver says the NBA’s decision not to take a “higher profile” stance on the situation stems from the advice of “experts inside and outside the government.”
Marca
