Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley speaks out on U.S. basketball star locked up in Russia

Bristow Marchant
·2 min read
Joshua Boucher/jboucher@thestate.com

Dawn Staley is speaking out about a U.S. basketball star who has been imprisoned in Russia for the last three months.

Staley tweeted what she called a “Network Challenge” on Friday, calling on major news outlets to keep the case of Brittney Griner front and center after news a Russian court had extended Griner’s pre-trial detention on drug charges for another month.

“I’m issuing a network challenge (#networkchallenge) to create space on air and ticker each day until @brittneygriner is back on US soil,” the Gamecocks’ women’s basketball coach said in a tweet.

She tagged ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and NBC in the tweet. Staley also called on the White House press secretary to use her daily Washington briefings to keep a focus on Griner’s case.

Griner, 31, is a center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, but for last few years has spent the U.S. off-season playing in Russia. In February, she was detained at a Moscow airport on charges that she was carrying cannabis oil, and now faces a potential 10-year drug smuggling sentence in a Russian prison, CNN reports.

Griner’s case is seen as a potential political pawn amid U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Russian media on Friday reported that Griner may be released in exchange for a Russian arms trafficker held in a U.S. prison, Yahoo! Sports reports.

‘He’s not safe.’ Lexington man fears for Ukrainian father in path of Russian invasion

Staley has personal experience with Griner. Before she led the University of South Carolina women to their second national championship this season, Staley coached Griner to a gold medal with the U.S. women’s national team at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.

The Gamecocks coach continued to tweet about Griner’s case into the weekend, using the hashtags #FreeBrittneyGriner and #WeAreBG while retweeting coverage of her detention.

“#FreeBrittneyGriner day 86 of her wrongful detainment” Staley tweeted on Saturday.

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