WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner. Photo: Google

By MARK LORENZANA

On Thursday, Aug. 4, WNBA superstar and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was convicted by a Russian court of “bringing marijuana with criminal intent into Russia” in February of this year and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The sentence was widely expected by U.S. authorities, to pave the way for negotiations between the two countries for Griner’s release. Just a day after the sentencing, on Friday, Aug. 5, a senior Kremlin official said that Moscow was ready to discuss a prisoner swap with the United States. The swap would likely involve Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year U.S. prison sentence.

While there has been a growing clamor for the return of Griner to U.S. soil, especially from her family, friends and Phoenix Mercury teammates and coaches — as well as the WNBA and NBA community as a whole — there have also been criticisms of Griner herself and the incident. A lot of the criticisms have centered on the fact that Griner shouldn’t have brought hashish oil with her in the first place, especially to Russia, where cannabis is considered illegal. Several basketball analysts, however, have countered that if Griner and other WNBA players were paid more than their current earnings, they wouldn’t need to work in Russia during the offseason to augment their income.

There is also the question as to whether Griner, who is a high-profile athlete and celebrity in the United States — and widely considered the best center in women’s basketball today — is being used as a political pawn by Russia.

The resurfacing of a report of another American who was detained three years ago on similar charges, but has since been released, perhaps drives home the point that Griner is indeed being used by Russia as leverage for the planned prisoner swap.

In July of 2019,  Audrey Lorber, then 19 years old, was arrested at an international airport in St. Petersburg after Russian authorities allegedly found 19 grams of marijuana on her. The amount of cannabis that Lorber purportedly brought to Russia was way more than what Griner had allegedly been caught with. Russian authorities accused Griner of “smuggling” 0.7 grams of THC in a wax vape cartridge, for which she had been sentenced to nine years in prison.

In contrast, Lorber was released after two months of detention, and was ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 rubles, which is equivalent to about $375.

Lorber, who was on vacation with her family in 2019 when she was arrested for cannabis possession, is a private citizen and would not have given the Russian government any leverage in any prisoner trade talks with the United States.

The only reason why Griner hasn’t been released yet — unlike Lorber — is that she is being used as a political pawn because of her status as a celebrity athlete. People who have criticized the WNBA player, and continue to demonize her instead of sympathizing with her, should perhaps look at themselves hard in front of the mirror before casting the first stone.