The WNBA has been growing in popularity and revenue over the years and has grown into one of the major women’s professional leagues in the world. The league has seen the development of various superstars too over such a period. Brittney Griner is arguably one of the most notable of these “superstars”, albeit owing to reasons outside basketball too. Griner, an 8-time All-Star and 2-time scoring champion, was detained by Russian authorities in February 2022.
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Griner was arrested under the charges of carrying vape cartridges that carried hashish oil. Hashish oil, being a prohibited substance in Russia, prompted Griner’s detention. The incident took place during the WNBA star’s tenure with UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia.
And after almost 9 months of detention, Griner was finally released in a prisoner swap between the USA and Russia. Brittney Griner saw her release guaranteed upon the USA’s release of Viktor “The Merchant of Death” Bout.
Bout’s notorious record prompted some backlash against the swap. And comedian Andrew Schultz was among the most vocal critics of the same.
Andrew Schultz called the prisoner swap “gross” on his ‘Flagrant’ podcast.
Andrew Schultz is renowned for his explosive takes and reactionary comedy. On his podcast, ‘Flagrant’, Schultz often discusses the most relevant news stories and dissects them. And naturally, Brittney Griner’s prisoner swap with Viktor Bout became a topic of conversation.
Safe to say Andrew Schultz wasn’t a fan of the deal that got Griner home.
“But I think the issue with me as it seems like they made the trade for only Brittney for political points. It seems like it’s a little bit of like a virtue signal if you will. I don’t like the idea that we are gonna trade this ‘Merchant of Death’, a guy who is responsible for probably tens and thousands of deaths and (like) destabilization around the world which we are also responsible for. But it doesn’t exactly feel like a fair trade. And if you are doing it just to get a PC pat on the back. It feels a little gross, right?” remarked Schultz on his podcast.
The comedian called the swap a publicity stunt and questioned the fairness of the exchange. A basketball player with a drug charge wasn’t equatable to a Russian arms dealer in his view.
The prisoner swap did stir up quite a controversy across the community. However, the WNBA is certainly set to benefit from the swap deal, if anything.
Brittney Griner is set to make a return to the WNBA in the 2023 season.
Griner had formerly spent her entire career with the Phoenix Mercury. However, her contract expired during the course of her detention in Russia.
So, with Griner declaring a return to the WNBA upon her release, her future was seemingly up in the air. However, the star decided to return to the Aces with whom she had previously attained WNBA champion status.
With this, the WNBA and Phoenix Mercury get their star back. And all parties would be clamoring for a return to the status quo and forgetting the dark times that came around.
