Brittney Griner

Brittney Griner, born on October 18, 1990, is a prominent American professional basketball player currently playing for the Atlanta Dream in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Vinyl of Unrivaled. Griner has made a significant impact on the sport, earning three Olympic gold medals with the U.S. women's national basketball team and being recognized as a six-time WNBA All-Star. In 2023, she was honored as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

Griner's journey in basketball began in high school, where she was named the nation's top women's basketball player by Rivals.com in 2009. She went on to play for the Baylor Lady Bears, where her junior year in 2012 marked a turning point in her career. That year, she was named the AP Player of the Year, Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, and led her team to a National Championship victory, also winning the Best Female Athlete ESPY Award. Notably, she is the only NCAA player to score over two thousand points and block five hundred shots.

In the professional arena, Griner was the first overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft, selected by the Phoenix Mercury, with whom she clinched the WNBA championship in 2014. Standing at six feet nine inches tall, she is known for her impressive physical attributes, including a men's U.S. size seventeen shoe and an arm span of eighty-seven point five inches.

Griner's contributions to the U.S. national team continued as she led them to victory at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and won her second gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She also secured her third consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in France and is a two-time FIBA Women's World Cup champion.

However, her career faced a significant challenge when she was detained in Russia on February 17, 2022, for smuggling charges related to medically prescribed hash oil. After pleading guilty and being sentenced to nine years in prison, she was released in December 2022 in a prisoner exchange. Griner made her return to the WNBA in May 2023, receiving a warm standing ovation from fans, marking a triumphant comeback to the sport she loves.