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Brittney Griner returned to Phoenix for the first time since spending her first 11 seasons there on Wednesday night.
Now with the Atlanta Dream, Griner racked up 17 points and nine rebounds against her former Mercury to lead her current squad to a 90-79 victory.
The Mercury honored Griner with a tribute video before the game, with longtime teammate Diana Taurasi sitting courtside.
“When I looked over and saw D and Penny [Taylor] over there, it kind of ignited me a little bit. Just being back on the court where I basically started my career on, played the majority of it, it just felt good. The crowd, seeing familiar faces, hearing old stories, signing jerseys that I’ve signed like a thousand times, it was good. It was a really good feeling.”
Griner helped the Mercury to a WNBA championship in 2014. With Phoenix, she was named an All-Star nine times, was twice the Defensive Player of the Year, and was constantly in the MVP conversation.
She missed the 2022 season due to being detained in Russia.
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In 315 games with the Mercury, in which she started each of them, she put up 17.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while also blocking 2.6 shots per contest. In her back-to-back DPOY seasons, she put up 3.8 and 4.0 blocks per game.
Griner has started all 21 games she has played for the Dream this year, putting up 10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds. Her 17 points on Wednesday were her fourth-most this season.
Griner signed a one-year deal with the Dream over the offseason.
She is writing herself a Hall of Fame resume, being a two-time scoring champ and leading the WNBA in blocks eight times. She also has been named to seven All-Defensive teams.
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