On Tuesday, a Russian court heard Brittney Griner's appeal for her nine-year prison sentence. Unsurprisingly, the appeal was rejected, and the WNBA star is now headed to a penal colony.
That is unless the United States is somehow able to facilitate her release. It's already been eight months since Griner was imprisoned for the alleged possession of hashish oils in her vape cartridges as she entered Russia. The government has put in a lot of effort in trying to negotiate her release, but unfortunately, nothing has come to fruition at this point.
For their part, the NBA is also doing whatever it can to support the Phoenix Mercury star. League commissioner Adam Silver recently spoke with ESPN anchor Malika Andrews, as the NBA's head honcho revealed the measures the league has been taking of late:
“We've had direct conversations with the White House, with the State Department,” Silver said. “You heard opening night, Steph Curry spoke out about her incarceration. To be quite honest, we're doing everything we know available to us at this point, which is to continue to raise her profile and have direct conversations with the U.S. government at all levels. But beyond that … I'm not sure what else we could be doing right now.”
Commissioner Adam Silver says the NBA has “had direct conversations with the White House, with the State Department” on Brittney Griner. From Monday on NBA Today: pic.twitter.com/pnJxqwxBjQ
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) October 25, 2022
It's great to hear that the NBA has been putting in a lot of work in order to help facilitate Griner's release. However, you also can't blame the commissioner for having a seemingly desperate tone here. It just feels that the league has exasperated any and all measures at this point — to no avail.
Be that as it may, all hope must not be lost. The fight is far from over for Brittney Griner.
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