Brittney Griner made headlines on Tuesday afternoon. The WNBA and the Associated Press announced the end-of-year awards for the league. Griner was not absent from the list of honorees, as the standout former WNBA champion won the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
The Phoenix Mercury star earned Comeback Player of the Year honors but split the award with Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier. The former UConn star excelled after an abbreviated 2022 season. She scored over 21 points per game this season, which was good enough to go 50/50 with Griner.
.@AP has dropped its 2023 #WNBA Awards:
– MVP: Breanna Stewart
– DPOY: A'ja Wilson
– 6WOY: Alysha Clark
– COY: Stephanie White
– ROY: Aliyah Boston
– Comeback POY: Brittney Griner and Napheesa Collier
– MIP: Satou Sabally— Mitchell Hansen (@M_Hansen13) September 12, 2023
Griner, a former standout at Baylor, gained worldwide attention after Russian police detained her. She was found guilty of drug possession charges that led to a major political fight between the United States and Russia. The United States eventually was able to get her back in America in an unprecedented prisoner swap with convicted criminal Viktor Bout.
In her comeback season, she averaged 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Obviously, it’s a thrill for Griner to even be participating in basketball again after what happened. So to hear this news is probably extremely rewarding. The former Baylor standout has been through a lot over the years. But this year she was able to return to playing ball and after excelling, earned another honor to her increasingly large number of accolades.
The world had plenty to say after the WNBA named Griner the Comeback Player of the Year.
Oh wow. That’s good. https://t.co/tUavn9AK9J
— Maurice (@mphoenixempire) September 12, 2023
New today: Houston native Brittney Griner has earned AP's @WNBA Comeback Player of the Year award (sharing it w/ Napheesa Collier).
Griner averaging 17.5 points/game for Phoenix after missing all of last year as Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison.
Photo: AP Images pic.twitter.com/BWS5FjeKna— Jason Bristol (@JBristolKHOU) September 12, 2023
After a tough season for the #PhoenixMercury, they got great news on Brittney Griner as she was named #WNBA AP Comeback Player of the Year.#ValleyTogether https://t.co/dLGjWXfdAr
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) September 12, 2023
Brittney Griner and Napheesa Collier share AP's Comeback Player of the Year award.
Griner missed all of last season due to her wrongful detainment in Russia and Collier missed all but four games due to the birth of her child
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) September 12, 2023
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022