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UNCASVILLE, Conn. \u2014 Phoenix Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard and her coaching staff stood in the empty Mohegan Sun arena on Thursday, puzzled.<\/p>\n
The Mercury were set to take on the Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m., and her players were supposed to be on the court going through their normal pregame shoot-around, but no one showed up.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Mercury players were back in the locker room, glued to the television screen watching their teammate Brittney Griner\u2019s conviction and sentencing on drug smuggling and possession charges earlier that day in a Russian court thousands of miles away. \u201cIt was like you\u2019re waiting for a bomb to drop,\u201d Mercury guard Diamond DeShields said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
They watched with tear-filled eyes as Griner fought through her own tears and pleaded with a Russian court not to \u201cend her life\u201d for an \u201chonest mistake.\u201d Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony and fined 1 million rubles, or about $16,000. The sentence opens the door for Griner to be returned to the United States through a prisoner swap, but for the players, the news was still heartbreaking to hear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re still supposed to play this game,\u201d Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said after the game, adding an expletive. \u201cNobody even wanted to play today. How are we even supposed to approach the game and approach the court with a clear mind when the whole group is crying before the game?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Nygaard said the team had eventually gone through a \u201cversion\u201d of the shoot-around, but nothing about the day or game felt normal. The most atypical moment of the night for Nygaard happened moments before tipoff, as the lights dimmed and players, coaches and referees locked arms in solidarity for 42 seconds \u2014 matching the number of Griner\u2019s jersey. Fans chanted \u201cWe are B.G.\u201d and \u201cBring her home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI even linked arms with a referee, so you know you\u2019re never going to see that again,\u201d Nygaard said with a smile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17 after customs officials said they found hashish oil, a cannabis derivative, in Griner\u2019s luggage at an airport near Moscow when she was traveling to the country to play for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women\u2019s basketball team. Griner said during her trial on drug charges that the hashish oil, in a vape pen, had been packed by mistake. Players across the W.N.B.A. and other professional athletes have campaigned fiercely for her freedom. In May, the U.S. State Department said that it had determined that Griner was \u201cwrongfully detained\u201d and that its officials would work to free her. Experts have said a prisoner swap is the most likely path for Griner\u2019s release; the White House recently said it had made a \u201csubstantial\u201d proposal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n