Brittney Griner (Photo by The Cut Magazine)
Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner is making strides to get ready for her second season back in the WNBA after she was forced to miss a year when she was detained in Russia for ten months.

This week, Griner went viral after she shared a photoshoot of her magazine cover for her piece in The Cut.

“Thank you to @thecut and @mrapinoe for sharing my story. This whole experience has taught me the value of time because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed! I can only hope that those who hear my story and read COMING HOME will, too, see the value in time and begin living through your life’s greatest challenges! TOMORROW IS PUB DAY! Let’s go!” she wrote.

On the cover, Brittney Griner could be seen rocking a plain white undershirt to go with some black slacks as she leans with her elbow on a door. The second picture shows her seated on a bike while a stopped train can be seen in the background.

The third photo shows Griner rocking a gray suit jacket over the white shirt while her eyes are closed, and another picture shows her looking off into the distance.

Here is how social media reacted in the comment section:

Brittney Griner claims that since her release from a Russian prison seventeen months ago, she has advocated for the return of other American prisoners held abroad by using her position as a WNBA All-Star and Olympic gold medallist. Since her release, Griner has had two meetings with President Joe Biden, most recently in Phoenix last month.

The 6-foot-8 center decided to chop her dreadlocks during her sentence, so she no longer had them, and she looked unrecognizable, as you can see on the magazine cover above.

Brittney Griner Gets Emotional About Her Time In Russia

Brittney Griner (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images For NAACP)
Griner is gradually returning to her normal routine after being arrested in Russia in February 2022 when vape cartridges carrying cannabis oil were discovered in her luggage.

She talked candidly about her traumatic ten months in a Russian prison following her 2022 arrest on drug-related accusations. The gold medallist in the Olympics detailed the terrible circumstances in an interview with ABC.

It got worse, she said when she was transferred to another harsh prison, Correctional Colony No. 1. She said her cell was “filth,” with “dirt and grime and a leaky sink. Blood stains.”

Breakfast there was porridge “that was more like cement,” and dinner was “a little piece of fish full of bones,” she said. The mattress had a huge blood stain, Griner added. She was allowed one roll of toilet paper a month, and for a few months, she said, “We didn’t get anything.” The toothpaste had expired 15 years earlier.