Brittney Griner has re-signed with her longtime WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, ahead of this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Paris. “Phoenix is home,” Griner said in a Mercury press release Thursday. “The love and support my wife and I have received from the organization, community and X-Factor over the last 11 years has meant everything to us. I’m excited to continue my career in a Mercury jersey and work towards bringing another championship back to the Valley.”
Griner returned to play with the Mercury last season after she was freed in December 2022 from Russia after being wrongfully detained. In 2023, she averaged 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while ranking second in the league in field goal percentage (56.0%) and third in blocks (1.6). She is third on the WNBA’s all-time blocks list.
Griner, 33, who will enter her 11th season, is a nine-time WNBA All-Star, winning a WNBA title in 2014. Griner also is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Team USA.
Phoenix’s signing of Griner comes the same week that the USA Basketball Women’s National Team will hold a training camp in Cleveland, Ohio. Griner – who previously has said that she would “never go overseas again” to play unless it was to compete in the Olympics – is scheduled to participate. The Paris Summer Olympics begin on July 26.
The No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA draft, Griner has spent her entire WNBA career with Phoenix. The Mercury’s season will open on May 14 against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. On Thursday, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team announced the 14-athlete April training camp roster, which will be held Wednesday through Friday.
In addition to Griner, another name on the roster is Caitlin Clark. When announcing the training camp roster Thursday, USA Basketball said at the time that Clark would attend contingent on Iowa’s progression through the NCAA tournament.
With Clark and Iowa now advancing to the Final Four, which is also being held in Cleveland, Clark’s focus instead will be on trying to win a national championship in her final days as a collegiate player.