PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury officially opened training camp for the 2022 season Tuesday evening without one of their biggest stars, center Brittney Griner.
Griner has been detained in Russia for more than two months for alleged drug trafficking. Russian officials accused Griner of smuggling vape cartridges filled with cannabis oil after flying from New York to a Moscow airport.
There is no timetable for her release. In March, a Moscow court announced that she would be held until at least May 19th.
Today, Griner's new head coach and some of her teammates spoke about the situation for the first time, including 19-year-vet and long-time Griner teammate, Diana Taurasi.
"We have her in our thoughts," Taurasi said. "I spent 10 years (playing in Russia) so I know the way things work there. It's delicate."
Taurasi and Griner have been teammates in Phoenix for almost a decade since Griner was drafted by the Mercury with the 1st overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft.
"We've just got to keep praying for her," guard Sophie Cunningham said. "We hope she's well. No one wants to be in her situation. We miss her like crazy, so we're still just trying to do good things around the community, you know, her shoe drive, so if you want to do anything to support her, let's do that but (we're) just praying for her."
Cunningham added that this training camp has a different feel to it with Griner not on the court.
"It's BG, there's no one like her in the whole world. (I) definitely miss her. But it's not even about basketball anymore. We just want her to be well as a human being. She has a big stage, a lot of people know her and so, yeah, we want her to play on the court, but everyone who loves her just wants her to be home safe. So, we've just got to keep praying for her."
And even though new Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard hasn't been able to coach Griner on the court, she says Griner's situation is on her mind often.
"I definitely wake up sometimes in the middle of the night worried about BG," Nygaard said. "All we can do is keep doing what we're doing and hopefully hold it down here for the Mercury."
Nygaard also said this situation has been tough on her team.
"It's tough. We're all concerned about her. That's not just their teammate, not just somebody they know, but also their friend," Nygaard said. "It is something that we think about and we pray to make sure that she is safe and that she comes home quickly. We feel confident that everything is being done to make sure that she can get back as quickly as possible, that everybody is working behind the scenes to make that happen and we'll be ready when she gets back and just her safe return is really what we are focused on."
Nygaard also added that her staff has spent time adjusting how the Mercury will play without Griner in their lineup each night.
"I think in basketball you're used to sometimes being down or a man out and people having to step up," Nygaard said. "When you're on a team, you never know when you're number is going to get called and so we just adjusted. It's not like we found out yesterday. So, as a staff, we've adjusted knowing she wouldn't be here at least for the beginning of the season to change a little bit about what we do offensively and defensively."
The Mercury open their 2022 season on May 6th when they host the Las Vegas Aces at Footprint Center. The tip-off is at 7 p.m.