Where is Brittney Griner? Phoenix Mercury open training camp without their star center

The Phoenix Mercury have opened their training camp for the 2022 season without their star center Brittney Griner.

For the past two months, Griner has been in Russia, accused of drug trafficking. She was arrested after attempting to enter Moscow with vape cartridges that contained cannabis oil.

She has been in custody in Russia since February 17 after authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis. Griner could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The Russian court recently stated she would be held until at least May 19.

At the open of the WNBA training camps this week her teammates and new head coach talked about how her situation has impacted their team. Among them was fellow Olympian Diana Taurasi.

“We have her in our thoughts,” Taurasi said. “I spent 10 years (playing in Russia) so I know the way things work there. It’s delicate.”

For almost a decade, Taurasi and Griner have been teammates on the Mercury since Griner was drafted by Phoenix in the 2013 WNBA draft.

“We’ve just got to keep praying for her,” guard Sophie Cunningham said. “We hope she’s well. No one wants to be in her situation. We miss her like crazy, so we’re still just trying to do good things around the community, you know, her shoe drive, so if you want to do anything to support her, let’s do that but just praying for her.”

Training camp has a different feel with Griner not on the court competing.

“It’s BG, there’s no one like her in the whole world. (I) definitely miss her. But it’s not even about basketball anymore. We just want her to be well as a human being. She has a big stage, a lot of people know her and so, yeah, we want her to play on the court, but everyone who loves her just wants her to be home safe. So, we’ve just got to keep praying for her.”

New coach of the Mercury, Vanessa Nygaard, said that beyond the human aspect, the team also has to work on how they may have to play without her.

“I think in basketball you’re used to sometimes being down or a man out and people having to step up,” Nygaard said. “When you’re on a team, you never know when you’re number is going to get called and so we just adjusted. It’s not like we found out yesterday. So, as a staff, we’ve adjusted knowing she wouldn’t be here at least for the beginning of the season to change a little bit about what we do offensively and defensively.”

“It’s tough. We’re all concerned about her. That’s not just their teammate, not just somebody they know, but also their friend,” Nygaard said. “It is something that we think about and we pray to make sure that she is safe and that she comes home quickly. We feel confident that everything is being done to make sure that she can get back as quickly as possible, that everybody is working behind the scenes to make that happen and we’ll be ready when she gets back and just her safe return is really what we are focused on.”

The Mercury will open their season at home on May 6 against the Las Vegas Aces at the Footprint Center.