Steph Curry gives Brittney Griner birthday shout out during championship ring ceremony
San Francisco, California - NBA superstar Steph Curry on Tuesday gave a shout out to imprisoned WNBA player Brittney Griner on her 32nd birthday during the Golden State Warriors' ring ceremony.
"We want to continue to use our platform to and the opportunity to shout out a very special member of the basketball community," Curry said the Warriors' championship ring ceremony. "Brittney Griner's birthday is today. She's 32 years old."
"We want to continue to let her name be known... it's been 243 days since she's been wrongfully incarcerated in Russia," the 2022 Finals' most valuable player said ahead of the Warriors' season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco.
"We hope that she comes home soon and everybody is doing their part to get her home."
Two-time world and Olympic champion Griner, who plays in Russia in the US off-season, was detained in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after being accused of having cannabis oil in her luggage. In August, she was sentenced to nine years in prison, having been convicted of drug possession and smuggling.
Russia and the US have reportedly been discussing a prisoner exchange involving the star player of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury team as well as Paul Whelan, another US citizen detained in Moscow.
Moscow, however, has criticized public debate over the possibility of such a deal, amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West unleashed by the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.
On Tuesday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the release of Griner and Whelan "is a priority for this administration. They are wrongfully detained, and they should be home today."
Jean-Pierre added that President Joe Biden, his National Security Council, and the US State Department were going to do "everything that we can to get them home."
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS & EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP