Throughout Udonis Haslem’s Miami Heat career, he’s always been a vocal player and not afraid to speak his mind. That continued on Wednesday before the Miami Heat’s opening game against the Chicago Bulls when Haslem delivered a brief pregame speech to recognize Brittney Griner.
Udonis Haslem started his pregame speech with a message for Brittney Griner.
"We're still thinking about you and everything that you're going through. You're on our hearts and our minds." pic.twitter.com/xAi1oSa3Ye
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 19, 2022
The WNBA star with the Phoenix Mercury has been detained in Russia for the past eight months. She recently celebrated her 32nd birthday while in confinement. Brittney Griner was initially detained in Russia back in February for carrying vape cartridges and hash oil through a Russian airport. Her trial was held in July and in August she was found guilty by a Russian court and sentenced to nine years in prison. The U.S. State Department has called Griner's arrest a ‘wrongful detainment.'
Udonis Haslem is only the latest out of numerous NBA players who have spoken out in support of Griner since she was detained and especially this week on her birthday. Kyrie Irving gave a similar pregame speech to fans before the Brooklyn Nets home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans and Stephen Curry did the same thing during the Golden State Warriors ring ceremony on Tuesday. Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. wore black hoodies with Griner's image on them during practice on Tuesday and Morant gave his thoughts to the media as well.
Griner is set to have an appeals hearing next week, but it is unlikely that anything major happens. U.S. and Russian officials have had dialogue regarding a possible prisoner exchange including Griner but those talks have not amounted to anything substantial.
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