San Francisco (AP) – With a T-shirt campaign, Boston Celtics players commemorated US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned in Moscow.
In training for the NBA’s second playoff final with the Golden State Warriors, several Celtics pros wore t-shirts that read “We are BG.”
Griner has been in a Russian prison for more than 100 days. The two-time Olympic champion and star player of the WNBA team Phoenix Mercury was arrested on February 17 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on charges of drug possession. You face five to ten years in prison. The US State Department classifies the arrest of the 31-year-old as unlawful. Only US President Joe Biden could bring Griner back, her wife Cherelle recently said.
Celtics professional Grant Williams explained that the T-shirt campaign was a joint campaign by the players’ unions of the NBA and the American women’s league WNBA. He is also one of the Vice Presidents of the Men’s League Players’ Association. “We hope to have her back in the US soon and reunited with her family to do what she loves,” Williams said. NBA boss Adam Silver added that Griner was being held illegally. They are working together with the US government and external experts to promote their release.
The second playoff final between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics takes place on the night of June 6th. Boston won the first game with the German professional Daniel Theis 120:108.
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