Brittney Griner is honored in Washington despite missing Mercury’s game with a hip injury

By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Brittney Griner did not play for the Phoenix Mercury in their first game in Washington since returning from her imprisonment in Russia. But the WNBA star was embraced by opponents and fans in the nation’s capital down the road from many of the folks in the U.S. government who worked to get her home. Griner was out against the Mystics because of a hip injury that caused her to leave Phoenix’s most recent game against Seattle. This is her first absence of the season. Griner got a standing ovation from the sellout crowd she she walked onto the court prior to tip-off.