Curious case of former Baylor star

By David Mullen

On February 17, Baylor women’s basketball legend, two-time Olympic gold medalist and current WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow and taken into custody for allegedly carrying vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage. Griner was returning to America after playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the EuroLeague during the WNBA offseason, as she had done since 2015.

The greatest shot blocker in women’s college basketball history, Griner is being blocked by the Russian government from returning home. On May 13, a Russian judge denied a request to move Griner to home detention and extended her incarceration by one month according to her attorney.

Aron Solomon, a Montreal-based legal expert and the chief legal analyst for Esquire Digital in Philadelphia, offered a unique perspective on the Griner situation. “I’ll tell you why I think she is not guilty,” Solomon said. “Even before the U.S. government came out and said she was ‘wrongfully detained,’ I felt that she was a political hostage. But once they came out and said, ‘wrongfully detained,’ it means the charges are false. If she were ‘rightfully detained,’ that would mean that the U.S. government was admitting that there was some truth to the charges.”   

Solomon has written numerous pieces focusing on the bridge between sports and legal issues. “Let’s look at this from a practical sports perspective,” Solomon said. “This wasn’t her first season playing in Russia. This was her seventh season at UMMC Ekaterinburg. There is no way that someone with her massive international profile would do something stupid like the charges. 

“If this was her first year, she’s just getting to Russia and she thinks she knows better, that’s one thing. But these players that play in China, Turkey and Russia hear the horror stories about Americans who think they can get around the rules. They end up in places like labor camps which, by the way, is where she may be heading. They [players] aren’t dumb enough to do it.  

“The idea that she had — what the Russian said — were ‘trafficking amounts of hashish oil’ makes absolutely no sense. When the U.S. said, ‘wrongly detained,’ that was the first thing I heard that made any sense.” 

Griner is 6-foot 9, black, heavily tattooed and openly gay. When arrested, she was wearing a black hoodie with “Black Lives for Peace” emblazoned on the back. Not the type of profile that the West is led to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces. But Solomon sees things differently. “They didn’t take her because she is queer,” Solomon said.

“Russia looked around and said, ‘Who is the highest profile American athlete we have here?’ The top Russian sports league is the KHL [the professional Kontinental Hockey League based in Moscow]. There aren’t that many high-profile Americans in the KHL. There are very high-profile Russians that played in the NHL. 

“They looked around and said: ‘We have Brittany Griner. She is the highest profile American athlete we have in the country. Let’s grab her.’ Because they knew they were about to invade Ukraine, they knew she could be an excellent pawn as a political prisoner in a swap. It really isn’t much more complicated than that. All you need to do is watch one Cold War movie from the 80s made-for-TV and you kind of get the plot.” Solomon is convinced that Putin is not detaining Griner because of her sexual orientation, “one hundred percent.”  

Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin is the highest profile Russian athlete playing in America. What if he went to Reagan National Airport and the tables were turned?

“It would be entirely different. Number one, he would never be retained because the U.S. has a rule of law and Russia doesn’t,” Solomon said. “The U.S. government, as far as I am concerned — again because I haven’t watched too many of those made-for-TV movies — doesn’t just pick up international athletes at the airport and put on fake charges. 

“But number two, the entire process of picking him up would have been infinitely more transparent. He would have been transported somewhere, there would have been charges, he would be given the opportunity to hire his own lawyer, which she [Griner] never was.” 

At the time of her detention, Griner was represented by an attorney assigned by the Russian government. “What she should have had were top, top American lawyers from the best international law firms that are New York-owned with Moscow offices. What Ovechkin would do is have lawyers that are fluent in Russian, who understood Russian and American law and worked for top Russian and American firms. 

“He [Ovechkin] could hire whoever he wants with his money,” Solomon said. “Charges would have come, hearings would have come, and other dates would have been set. He might have been released on his own recognizance. He wouldn’t have been held infinitively like Griner is. It would have been night and day.”       

The WNBA season is underway. Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star, plays for the Phoenix Mercury. The Dallas Wings host the Mercury on Friday, June 17 or around the next time a Russian judge is to review the Griner case. 

Despite efforts by the WNBA, Griner may not have the public and media support it often takes to pressure Washington D.C. into making her release a top priority. Imagine if LeBron James or Steph Curry were being held in Russia on disputed allegations.

Part of the reason Griner is in Russian custody is that she is employed by a league searching for an identity. Despite the best efforts of ESPN and NBA franchises to promote women’s professional basketball, the WNBA struggles in attendance and TV ratings. The Wings averaged 2,100 fans per home game last season, and national broadcasts average around 300,000 viewers. The WNBA reportedly loses $10 million per year. The league has yet to capture the attention of the American sports fan.

“It’s fine to say that the WNBA is great, and it is great. But the WNBA has never been successful in building a business model that works,” Solomon said. “It is why Brittany Griner makes two hundred something [a reported $221,500 a year] in the U.S. and has to get a moonlighting job making $1 million a year in the Russian mountains playing for an oligarch.” The average annual NBA player’s salary is $8.5 million, while — in relative terms — stars with Griner’s skill set make in excess of $25 million annually in the NBA. 

Solomon points out that women’s tennis is successful because they have stayed away from the men’s game as much as possible. “They have their own successful business model and a huge fan base that the WNBA does not have.” The league is honoring Griner, the No. 1 pick of the 2013 WNBA Draft, with her initials and jersey No. 42 along the sidelines of all 12 home courts. She will also be paid her full WNBA salary in 2022.

“I am not a gambling person, because I am bad at it,” Solomon concluded, “but my opinion is that I think she will still be detained in six months. We found out that Russia wants to do a trade for this ‘Merchant of Death’ guy. And I think the Americans are saying, ‘No way!’” 

The “Merchant of Death” is the nickname for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who reportedly used his multiple air transport companies to smuggle weapons from Eastern Europe to Africa and the Middle East. In November 2011, Bout was convicted by a jury in a Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, deliver anti-aircraft missiles and provide aid to a terrorist organization and was sentenced to a 25 year imprisonment. He is currently at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill.  

Regarding a deal, Solomon said: “What I tell people is that you have to think of it in basketball terms. We are trying to do a trade. Both teams have to have a player that they want to trade of fair value. I think most Americans would say, ‘We are not giving up the Merchant of Death dude for Brittany Griner. You have to be more realistic in what you are asking for.’ 

“It is my understanding that the [recently released] Trevor Reed deal took more than one and one-half years. Six months from now, she is either been found guilty without a trial and serving in a Russian labor camp or is still in detention. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s my bet.” 

The bitter truth about Brittany Griner’s current status in Russia is as cold as a Siberian prison camp.