Steph Curry used the NBA Championship ring ceremony for the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night to call attention to the plight of Brittney Griner, calling for the release of the women’s basketball star who turned 32 in a Russian prison yesterday with no end to her ordeal in sight.
Curry highlighted Griner’s situation Tuesday as members of his team accepted 2022 championship rings during a televised program in San Francisco. The remarks from the Warriors’ point guard are the latest public showing of support for Griner as diplomatic efforts to free the Olympic gold medalist have stalled.
Speaking to the crowd gathered in the Chase Center, the team’s home arena, Curry used the ceremony to give a “shout out to a very special member of the basketball community,” saying the event fell on Griner’s 32nd birthday.
“We want to continue to let her name be known,” said Curry, noting she has already spent 243 days imprisoned in Russia. “We hope that she comes home soon, and everybody is doing their part to get her home.”
Griner, a star player for the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Mercury, was arrested in an airport outside of Moscow in February after authorities found a small amount of cannabis oil and vape cartridges in her luggage. At the time, Griner was using the WNBA’s offseason to play for a team in Russia, which has stricter cannabis laws than the U.S.
Her lawyers argued she accidentally packed the oil and the cartridges, which they said were for medical uses. But a Russian court in August sentenced Griner to nine years in prison and a fine of about $16,000 after being found guilty of drug smuggling with criminal intent.
U.S. officials have called Griner’s detention arbitrary and President Joe Biden has ordered his administration to engage the Russian government in the hopes of freeing her and Paul Whelan, another American who was arrested on espionage charges in 2018.
The effort comes as relations between Washington and Moscow are at a low over the war in Ukraine. The Biden administration has reportedly approached Russia with releasing Viktor Bout, an infamous Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” in exchange for Whelan and Griner.
Despite the Biden administration’s efforts, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this month that the Kremlin wasn’t taking the offer seriously. Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, later told Russia’s TASS news agency that Griner’s release wasn’t a priority.
Griner’s supporters haven’t been deterred and have continued to call public attention to her plight. Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, helped launch the #WeAreBG social media campaign to keep the cause in the spotlight.
Cherelle Griner marked her wife’s birthday on Tuesday by sharing a video message to her personal Instagram account about the campaign.
“I want to thank President [Joe] Biden for the administration’s efforts to secure her release,” she said in the message.
The WNBA also wished Griner a happy birthday in a tweet, saying “we will not forget about you and we will not stop fighting for you. The W won’t be the same until you’re home.”
Happy Birthday Brittney Griner, we will not forget about you and we will not stop fighting for you. The W won’t be the same until you’re home 🧡 #WeAreBG pic.twitter.com/J5sO2EkGLL — WNBA (@WNBA) October 18, 2022
Newsweek reached out to Calder Hynes, spokesperson for Cherelle Griner, for comment.