Brittney Griner again with dream, eyes of La Olympics

Brittney Griner says she feels back in Atlanta after eleven seasons with the Phoenix Mercury from her new beginning with the dream of Atlanta and has set itself the goal of playing at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

“It’s a goal of mine,” Griner said to ESPN in an extended interview this week when she was preparing for her debut with the dream on Friday evening against Washington Mystics. “It has not been in the USA for some time, so I think it would be astonishing to be able to play at the Olympic Games in their home country. My parents have never been at the Olympic Games. So afterwards I will strive and try to do what I have to do to get this call or at least help in the warehouse and those who have to do whatever.”

The 34 -year -old Griner played economically for the team when it won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. But the three -time gold medalist says that her move to dream outside of the season is mentally and physically stronger than in years.

“You feel comfortable and sometimes you don’t want to get out of this bubble,” said Griner. “But it is like the only thing you definitely need. Life sometimes becomes you out of this bladder, and I’m just glad that I finally did it. I’m glad I did it and came here.”

Griner said ESPN that after last season she did not try to leave the mercury and expected to have the same opportunity to retire as a member of the team who had designed her number 1 2013 like her long -time teammate Diana Taurasi.

But things changed when the mercury informed them in front of the free agency that they probably went in a different direction. Phoenix revised his squad by acting for strikers Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas.

“I did everything as if I still have this jersey,” said Griner. “Then there was a meeting before I went to an unsurpassed visit and I found out: ‘Oh, it looks like they want to do something else. This is new for me.’ I wish I had known it earlier, but hey, life happens.

Griner drove home from her meeting with the mercury on her motorcycle and tried to digest the news. She started to name her long -time agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas and her wife Cherelle Griner.

They had been looking for a new house in Phoenix all summer, but nothing felt really. Maybe that was a sign.

“Basically, it was said that I don’t know what her future is doing,” said Griner when I was asked if she had the opportunity to return to Phoenix. “After hearing that, it became my decision because I want to be somewhere where you know that you want me where you believe in me and my game.”

Atlanta’s dream was her first choice. She loved the players in the team and felt good at all-stars Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard.

After overcome the first shock and the disappointment that was her time in Phoenix, Griner was more excited about the future. She felt comfortable in Phoenix. And forever it would be grateful to the organization that she secured her release from a Russian prison, where it was arrested for 10 months in 2022.

But before the mercury told her that she went in a different direction, she had wondered if she could have become too comfortable. After the Mercury had lost her playoff game to the Minnesota Lynx, a reporter Griner asked whether she was thinking.

“I am like ‘Dang, I’m not the one who retires.” We are not the same. We didn’t get together in the league. “

So far, Griner has looked as dominant in Atlanta as always. She ended with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in her first pre -season game. But she also looked different from shooting and coming out in the transition.

The dream plays the new coach Karl Smesko’s five-out system, which Griner has never done, but says that she is hugging herself.

“It’s definitely different,” said Griner. “I mean, we play five. I learn to move better to the extent that my places on the area are instead of just being low. I and Brionna (Jones) complement each other really well. I love to play with Bri. Many people thought of working two roughly.

“Life sometimes becomes out of this bladder, and I’m just glad that I finally did it. I’m glad I did it and came here.”

Brittney Griner when he leaves the mercury and signs with the dream

Griner said Smesko suggested an adaptation to her shot on the first day on which they worked together, and she has much more comfortable and consistent with it.

It also rises more often.

“I don’t look quickly, but I move. I need a lot less steps than everyone else,” she said jokingly. “I don’t have to be out there to get crazy.”

One thing she won’t do is too long.

“As long as I can set up numbers and help my team,” said Griner, “I want to play. If I can’t do it, or we have to hide in the corner or get the easiest matchup, I will go away.

Everything is new and unlike everything in your life and in the WNBA career. Griner and Cherelle greeted a son last summer, Bash and adapts to life as new parents.

But there are still constant memories of the 10 months that she spent in a Russian prison.

“I learned that I can definitely be customizable,” she said. “To be honest, I can get myself to fit everything I have to do to be okay.”

When she spoke, she looked down on her right hand. The other day, when she felt depressed, she pulled four points on her hand.

“My cellmate taught me that many people who were isolated in prisons are a tattoo that they usually get,” said Griner. “It’s just like a memory. You did it. You literally sat alone in a prison with no one, so you are good. So if I have a hard day, I’ll put it on there and I’ll look down there and see it and say: ‘I have done it. I’m good.’ I’m good.

“What I feel is nothing.”