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On Tuesday a Russian court denied WNBA star Brittney Griner’s sentencing appeal, and upheld the 9-year sentence she received in August. Griner’s lawyers were quoted by The New York Times, saying, “We are very disappointed. The verdict contains numerous defects, and we hoped that the court of appeal would take them into consideration.” Griner will now officially begin serving her sentence, with credit for time served since her arrest in February. The Associated Press reported that each day “in pre-trial detention will be counted as 1.5 days in prison, so the basketball star will have to serve around eight years in prison,” from this point on, making her potential release date some time in the year 2030. The United States and Russia are still in discussions for a potential prisoner swap to secure the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen who has been detained in a Russian prison on alleged espionage charges since 2018. So far no deal has been made, but one experienced negotiator said he was “cautiously optimistic” that both Griner and Whelen will be released by the end of the year. President Biden said that his administration “will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.” Griner had been traveling to Russia to play basketball with the UMMC Ekaterinburg Russian team, which she has played with since 2014 during the American WNBA season’s yearly off time. This is a very common practice for athletes, and in particular women’s sports like Basketball where players like Griner can make far more money overseas than they do in the states. Top men’s basketball players earn between $1 and $50 million a year. Griner, who is a superstar in her league, made $215,000 with her Phoenix Mercury team last year, and her four years prior to that earned her just under $140,000 a year. On the other hand, in Russia Griner earns closer to a million dollars for a season.
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