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Brittney Griner, center for the Phoenix Mercury, is one of the wealthiest players in the WNBA.
With a net worth estimated to be somewhere between $5 million and $17 million dollars, Brittney Griner might be the highest paid female basketball ever.
She is a WNBA champion, a 3-time Russian National League champion, a 4-time EuroLeague champion, and a NCAA champion.
Griner made international headlines when she was detained in February of 2022 for carrying small amounts of cannabis oil at a Russian airport. The 6-foot-9 basketball star was sentenced to nine years in prison, but was released in December of that year in a prisoner exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
How Brittney Griner Makes Her Money
In addition to her WNBA salary, which paid her $227,900 in 2022 (the league maximum), Brittney Griner had reportedly been earning over $1 million per season while playing for UMKC Ekaterinburg for the past seven seasons.
Prior to that, Griner played for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and the Beijing Great Wall during the WNBA offseasons.
The 8-time WNBA All-Star has also had endorsement deals with Nike, Beats by Dre, adidas, BodyArmor, Gatorade and Verizon and appeared in commercials for companies like American Express and Pepsi Max.
Brittney also earns income from book deals and speaking engagements. In 2017, Griner published her memoir titled In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court.
Why is Brittney Griner So Famous?
Griner first gained fame when she was named the top high school women’s basketball player by Rivals.com in 2009.
As a junior at Baylor University, Brittney would win the AP Player of the Year award and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four award.
The Baylor Lady Bears would win the National Championship that year, going 40-0, finishing with the most wins in a single season in NCAA history.
Brittney Griner would also go on to win two Olympic gold medals, in 2016 and 2021, playing for the U.S. national team.
In 2013, the Phoenix Mercury selected Griner as the first overall pick in the WNBA draft.
Over nine seasons with the Mercury, Brittney Griner has averaged 17.7 points per game, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.8 blocked shots.
She is just one of 11 players to have earned a Olympic gold medal, FIBA World Cup gold medal, WNBA championship, and a NCAA championship.
Griner became the subject of international news when she was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport after the Russian authorities found in her luggage vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil, which is illegal in Russia despite her having a prescription for it in Arizona.
After pleading guilty, Brittney was sentenced to nine years in prison despite the standard sentence for possession of no more than two grams of hash oil being a maximum of 15 days.
On December 8, she was released by Russia in a controversial prisoner exchange involving Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, AKA “The Merchant of Death.”
Is Brittney Griner Married or Single?
On February 11, 2013 in an interview with SI.com, Griner came out publicly as a lesbian, although she had previously come out to her parents while in high school.
In 2014, Griner got engaged to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson. In 2015, both were arrested on charges of assault and disorderly conduct. Despite this domestic violence incident, they were married a month later on May 8, 2015.
The day after announcing that Johnson was pregnant in June of 2015, Griner filed for an annulment. Johnson gave birth to twin girls on October 12, 2015 and their divorce was finalized in June of 2016.
In August 2018, Griner became engaged to Cherelle Watson. The couple were married in June of 2019.