LeBron James and Brittney Griner
LeBron James was one of the first NBA stars to react on the arrest of WNBA’s very own Tom Brady – Brittney Griner. Held captive in land of Vladimir Putin since February, Griner faced over 10 months of massive depression and toxicity. Being held in the prison due to charges of carrying drugs, Joe Biden’s administration found it difficult to get their star back to her homeland.
It was only until December 8, 2022, when US administration secured the homecoming of Brittney via a prisoner swap with arms dealer Viktor Bout in Abu Dhabi. With a possible 10-year jail time on the cards, many were revealed to see the 8-time WNBA All Star back with her family. On the same note let us take a look upon what LeBron opinionated when Griner was still being held captive in Russia.
On one of the episodes of ‘The Shop,’ Los Angeles Lakers superstar revealed his thoughts upon what Brittney could be feeling as numerous attempts (At that time) had gone in vain to secure her release, despite her name in the world of sports.
“How can she feel like America has her back?” LeBron James questioned. “I would be feeling, like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’” Interestingly LeBron’s comments came after Phoenix Mercury’s coach – Vanessa Nygaard mentioned the 37-year-old whilst discussing Griner’s miserable situation in Russia.
“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard said during a news conference. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those. We know it.”
That being said LeBron James made his feelings of relief perfectly clear after Griner landed back on US soil. With ex-marine Paul Whelan still beyond Joe Biden’s reach, was Brittney Griner’s exchange with Merchant of death a viable death?