Is the sentence delivered on Brittany Griner a little while ago. At 31, her career may be over. So sad. Hope the State Department can get something done as that may be the only out.

I remember studying that Australia was once a penal colony too. Hopefully someday Griner can "rebound" back just like the people from Down Under did.

There is still talk of a trade: Brittney and a Marine for an arms dealer & murderer.

historian said:

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There is still talk of a trade: Brittney and a Marine for an arms dealer & murderer.

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Somehow that doesn't seem like a fair trade. How about the Marine and two used basketballs for the arms dealer & murderer?

They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

sicem45 said:

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They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

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She's worth a murdering gun dealer to you???

Mothballs said:

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sicem45 said:

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They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

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She's worth a murdering gun dealer to you???

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She was wrongfully detained and did nothing wrong so yes they need to do everything to get her out

sicem45 said:

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Mothballs said:

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sicem45 said:

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They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

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She's worth a murdering gun dealer to you???

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She was wrongfully detained and did nothing wrong so yes they need to do everything to get her out

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How was she wrongfully detained when she admitted guilt?

I'm good with state department doing something as long as it is done for all the other Americans that have been wrongfully jailed and there are allot, they need to get the same treatment.

I think one reason they may agree to trade the so-called merchant of death is that he is set to be released from jail in 5 years anyway. I don't know why he didn't get a life sentence given what he is considered to have done.

Mothballs said:

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sicem45 said:

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Mothballs said:

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sicem45 said:

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They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

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She's worth a murdering gun dealer to you???

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She was wrongfully detained and did nothing wrong so yes they need to do everything to get her out

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How was she wrongfully detained when she admitted guilt?

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Russia has a 99% conviction rate. She was found guilty as soon as she was arrested. Claiming innocence would not have helped her whatsoever.

Griner has been traveling to Russia for many years. The timing of her first legal issues in the country is no coincidence.

sicem45 said:

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Mothballs said:

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sicem45 said:

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They need to do everything to make this trade happen. She's worth that!

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She's worth a murdering gun dealer to you???

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She was wrongfully detained and did nothing wrong so yes they need to do everything to get her out

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She admitted to violating Russian law. That is doing something wrong regardless of how we might feel about their laws. Setting a murderer free so he can continue killing is obviously wrong. These are blatantly obvious facts.

This is so wrong from so many different points of view. The obvious political side of course. Human Rights violation yes. But from a women's right and the blatant hypocrisy from the NBA is telling. The entire payroll of the WNBA is less than the average annual salary of the lowest paid NBA player. And yet LeBron James as the spokesperson for the NBA is not being an advocate for her release. These women have to play overseas because they make an average of $100k per year. The NBA owns the WNBA. NBA players should all take less so that the WNBA stars can avoid the necessity of having to play overseas. The NBA prima donnas ( wouldn't you like to buy them for what they're worth and sell them for what they think they're worth ) should stand behind their " woke " agenda and put their money where their mouths are.

It's all about supply & demand. If more people watched the WNBA then there would be more money for everyone involved including the players. The NBA has so much money because it's so popular (although both have declined of late because they are woke & hypocritical).

You are 100% correct. If only we lived in a World of supply and demand logic. The business side of the equation vs. the player safety side of the equation along with the woke logic on society. The NBA would add credibility to what they stand for if they would subsidize the WNBA just enough to prevent the need of players having to play internationally. Here's the numbers. The average NBA player makes 68 X what the average WNBA player makes.
( $121,000.00 vs $8.2mm ) But to be fair, players in the WNBA play a lot less games in the season. ( 36 games vs. 82 games )The WNBA's problem is simple: it does not generate the interest or revenue to support a pay structure close to what the NBA pays. I get that.... all I'm saying is if you are going to have a WNBA, have a league that provides safety for their players so that they are not compelled to take personal risk to earn extra compensation. In America women make 82.3% of what men earn. In the WNBA that number is 1.4%. The players in the NBA could triple the amount of money players in the WNBA make by lowering their average from $8.2mm
to $7.94mm or 2.4%. If you are going to promote a woke agenda; then put your $$ where your pie hole is !!! That's less than one Ferrari per year.

boerne bear said:

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This is so wrong from so many different points of view. The obvious political side of course. Human Rights violation yes. But from a women's right and the blatant hypocrisy from the NBA is telling. The entire payroll of the WNBA is less than the average annual salary of the lowest paid NBA player. And yet LeBron James as the spokesperson for the NBA is not being an advocate for her release. These women have to play overseas because they make an average of $100k per year. The NBA owns the WNBA. NBA players should all take less so that the WNBA stars can avoid the necessity of having to play overseas. The NBA prima donnas ( wouldn't you like to buy them for what they're worth and sell them for what they think they're worth ) should stand behind their " woke " agenda and put their money where their mouths are.

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I'm sorry to see what's happening to Brittany. Whatever the case, it's clear that the crime is not deserving of the punishment from my pov, but when in Russia, Americans can't take chances.

The WNBA loses money, it's a dog for the NBA. The two reasons it exists are 1) keeping up appearances, and 2) it's long-game economics - in that its existence makes college ball more interesting for female ball and thereby helps with media viewership at that level. Doesn't make it worthwhile, but the two reasons keep it going. If you want to blame someone, blame the woke corporate sponsors for not throwing their money away at the WNBA and its players.

T.F.H.P.B.!!!! You absolutely NAILED it !!! What's so constructive about this site is our ability to discuss things and to create unique ideas. I never thought about the true value that the WNBA brings to the table. But the above post brings it to light. The WNBA cultivates significant interest in the College Game. I am shooting totally from the hip here, but, behind Football, & Men's Basketball is Women's basketball the third most significant College sport?
( Baseball might be # 3 ) But, whatever, the main value that the WNBA brings is that it adds significance to the Women's College Game... but, having said that I still believe NBA players should accept one Ferrari less per year to help subsidize the WNBA.

It seem you want socialist sports. Why not subsidize WNBA 50 50 with the NBA?

Pro sports are not government organizations. The WNBA needs to find itself.

Brittany Grinder was making an adequate living here in the USA.
It is unfortunate she has this issue in Russia, but the cause of her situation is the Russian Government and decisions made by herself.

Socialize sports???? No. I just want the WOKE NBA to help make the WNBA safer for the athletes. Where did I mention 50/50? I suggested 2.4%. I enjoy the success that my school has in Women's Basketball. I acknowledge that the WNBA is essential to this success.

boerne bear said:

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T.F.H.P.B.!!!! You absolutely NAILED it !!! What's so constructive about this site is our ability to discuss things and to create unique ideas. I never thought about the true value that the WNBA brings to the table. But the above post brings it to light. The WNBA cultivates significant interest in the College Game. I am shooting totally from the hip here, but, behind Football, & Men's Basketball is Women's basketball the third most significant College sport?
( Baseball might be # 3 ) But, whatever, the main value that the WNBA brings is that it adds significance to the Women's College Game... but, having said that I still believe NBA players should accept one Ferrari less per year to help subsidize the WNBA.

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You make some excellent points. However, an average salary of $100,000 is pretty fantastic in my opinion. I'd LOVE to make $100,000 a year for a job that I work at 5 days a week, 50 weeks of the year. I feel like they could do just fine on that salary and to say they "need" to subsidize that income by playing overseas is not an accurate statement. I'd say there are lots of folks in this country who could find a way to manage to survive on that salary who are not playing a game for a living. Other than that, I agree with what you're saying. And to say the NBA is hypocritical is putting it mildly!

The WNBA's problem is that they suppress talent. Griner is a fantastic athlete who at 6'9" could create her own shot and could have been the W's version of Wilt Chamberlain. Yet for her entire career she only averaged 17 points a game on 12 shot attempts a game. The NBA had a hard time getting television time until Julius Erving and Michael Jordan showed up. Griner could have been a dominant figure that brought eyeballs to the game, yet when asked why she didn't get more touches Brondello said that if Griner was the center of the offense then the other players would just stand around. The NBA didn't have that problem when Wilt averaged 50 and Jordan averaged 30 points per game. To the casual fan the WNBA is boring because most of the players look and play the same, a bunch of guards taking jump shots.

Putting economics aside, I'm not so sure about the underlying premise that WNBA members playing overseas is unsafe. Griner is the high visibility example of how it could be, but virtually every member of the WNBA and probably 3 times as many college graduates that did not make the cut play overseas every year. Are there similar examples? I have not heard of any. If this is a unique situation Griner is in, and I believe it is, then I don't think we can make the claim that playing overseas means the players are less safe than they would be anywhere else (granted, not all countries are equal - surely the risk in Russia is not equal to the risk in Finland).

I also highly doubt that the NBA paying more would make much of a difference. As long as the season is only 3.5 months, then regardless of what the WNBA pays, it's easy for a player to conclude that she could use the other 8.5 months to make even more money. It would be logical for them to still go overseas and continue playing.

Bone Squad… you make some really good points.
I made the assumption that WNBA players would rather not play overseas. Like your point that maybe they play in other countries more so out of a sense of adventure than out of necessity.
But, it would still help the NBA's image to make an additional financial commitment to the WNBA.