Formerly imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner is home for Christmas, and her first move on the basketball court since her release from Russian custody was a dunk.
Now, we’re getting heartwarming details about Griner’s return to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. CNN reported Tuesday that after facing “meager rations” in a maximum-security penal colony for women, Griner’s return party at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, featured a Christmas tree and a barbecue courtesy of friends and family.
Lindsay Kagawa Colas, one of Griner’s agents, told the network that Griner was spending time with her wife, Cherelle Griner, in a “residential environment” on the base. That environment includes Griner’s favorite drink, Dr. Pepper.
Griner is also sans her trademark dreadlocks, which “friends and family jokingly refer to as her ‘Russian fade.'”
President Joe Biden made the controversial decision to swap Griner for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who said he wished Griner “good luck” as they crossed paths on a tarmac outside Abu Dhabi during the exchange between the two countries’ intelligence services.
Griner was originally set to serve nine years in a penal colony 200 miles west of Moscow after she pleaded guilty in January to charges of bringing a small amount of medical hashish oil aboard a flight with her Russian Premier League team.
[CNN]
