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VP Kamala Harris helps celebrate Brittney Griner's triumphant return to WNBA after Russian ordeal [1]
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Date: 2023-05-20
Brittney Griner
Britney Griner has made the long journey back from a cage in a Russian court to a WNBA court. Just five months after the Phoenix Mercury star was released from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner swap, she made a triumphant return to the WNBA on Friday night in Los Angeles.
And among the 10,000-plus fans on hand to welcome BG back was Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Elmhoff as the Mercury faced the Los Angeles Sparks in their WNBA opener.
Before the tip-off, Harris spoke one-on-one with Griner and then visited each team’s locker room.
USA Today reported that Griner “seemed particularly moved by the time she spent” with the vice president.
"It was amazing," Griner said, noting that she and Harris both were at the White House correspondents’ dinner last month in Washington D.C. but did not find time to speak. "So it was nice to see her face-to-face, talk to her, thank her for everything as well. And then the team really enjoyed it, too."
In the Mercury locker room, Harris told the players: “Thank you for all that you did in supporting Brittney because I know that was rough and so difficult for you. A team is a team, that’s family.”
In the Sparks locker room, the vice president was greeted by the team’s star Nneka Ogwumike, who as president of the WNBA players’ union lobbied incessantly for Griner’s release.
“I just wanted to say thank you so much on behalf of … the players. Tonight is a game but we’re also celebrating the return of one of our own, and what the Biden administration did to make that happen is like really, really important. … We know that it wasn’t easy, but we just want to say thank you so much for everything that you did for us to be able to play against BG tonight.”
Before the game, Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard spoke to reporters about what it meant for Griner to return to the game after spending nearly 300 days in Russian custody last year. Griner, now 32, missed all of the 2022 WNBA season. She played in one pre-season game last week.
Last season, Nygaard would start every news conference with an updated tally of how many days Griner had been incarcerated in Russia. Now, the coach doesn’t have to do that anymore.
Nygaard said:
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/20/2170420/-VP-Kamala-Harris-helps-celebrate-Brittney-Griner-s-triumphant-return-to-WNBA-after-Russian-ordeal
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