Brittney Griner improving every week, Phoenix Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi says
Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner is set to make her return to the court next month for the first time since 2021 and no one is more excited than her teammate Diana Taurasi.
During an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Taurasi said Griner is steadily returning to basketball form, saying, "every week you just see her getting a little bit better."
"She's gotten better," Taurasi said. "I think she's progressed. I mean, when you don't do anything for 10 months, yeah, it's a long strain on your body – mentally, physically."
Griner – a seven-time All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion – missed the entire 2022 season while being wrongfully detained in Russia for 10 months after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. She was freed in a prisoner swap in December.
Griner signed a one-year deal to return to the Mercury in February for her 10th season.
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Griner last played for the Mercury on Oct. 17, 2021, when the Chicago Sky beat Phoenix in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. Griner had 28 points and seven rebounds in the game.
"There's no one like her in women's basketball," Taurasi said. "How she affects the game with her size, and I think what gets lost is how good she is on the block and all those things."
Taurasi, who is entering her 19th season with the Mercury, said she sees glimpses of Griner's dominance ahead of training camp, which begins on Sunday.
"You see her do things (and you're like) 'Oh, oh, OK. Spin move baseline. I remember that.' Or getting a block," Taurasi said. "So, there are all these little moments that she keeps stacking up and it's going to be a big training camp for her to get back where she wants to go. But, we're all here helping and hopefully we could all do it together."
Taurasi noted that Griner not only has to work on returning to form, but she also has the challenge of navigating the media frenzy that will follow her return to the court.
"She went through something that no one else has gone through. So, she's going to have to find a way to navigate the attention, the eyes, the publicity, the mental strain of having all that and still getting back into basketball form. It's a lot. It's a lot. But hopefully when she comes here, this is home for her, right? It's all she knows," Taurasi said.
ESPN will broadcast the superstar center's first two games of the season: the season opener on May 19 at the Los Angeles Sparks and the home opener on May 21 hosting the Sky, a rematch of Griner's last WNBA game.
Contributing: Victoria Hernandez