Brittney Griner deserves 'however long she needs to heal' before basketball re-enters the conversation

• WNBA superstar Brittney Griner is back in the US after 294 days detained in Russia on drug charges.
• The Mercury center deserves "however long she needs to heal" before making her return, one star says.

Brittney Griner is back in the United States.

The WNBA superstar spent 294 days in Russian custody — and, for some time, at a penal colony — after her arrest and subsequent conviction on drugs charges. But thanks to a prisoner exchange between the US government and Moscow, Griner is home in time for the holidays.

Naturally, many have already started to wonder if and when Griner, who is a generational talent and undeniably one of the greatest stars women's basketball has ever seen, will lace up her kicks and step back onto the hardwood. But one of her fellow WNBA stars cautions against fans getting too far ahead of themselves.

Instead, she hopes everyone will "give [Griner] space and let her reacclimate into life the way that she wants to."

"She needs as much time as she wants, and I think people really need to give her grace," two-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier told Insider. "If she never wants to pick up a basketball again, that is up to her, so however long that she needs to heal.

"If she never wants to talk about it or if she never wants to do an interview about it, I think that people really do just need to give her space and let her reacclimate into life the way that she wants to," she added.

Collier, a Minnesota Lynx forward who also won a gold medal alongside Griner at the Tokyo Olympics, said she was relieved to see that the 32-year-old was seemingly in good spirits. Clips that emerged of Griner getting ready to fly home from the United Arab Emirates — where the physical prisoner exchange took place early Thursday morning — showed her smiling, making familiar facial expressions, and showcasing some of the "silly and fun to be around" personality Collier remembered from their time together with USA Basketball.

Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs that helped escort Griner back to the States, confirmed Collier's assertion that the 6-foot-9 center is "super easy to talk to." He told CNN that he and Griner "talked about everything under the sun" during their 18-hour flight home, and he came away with "the impression that this is an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person: a patriotic person, but above all, authentic."

He also noted that Griner seemed to be in good physical health and "was full of energy" during their trip to a military base in San Antonio, Texas. And while it may be tempting for fans to assume that means Griner's heading back to the basketball court sooner rather than later, Collier warns that "you can't really presume what you would want to do if you're not in that situation."

"I think that her recovery could go one of two ways," Collier said. "With basketball, [either] she would want to do it again and get her mind off of [her experience in Russia] with something that she's always loved. Or it could be really traumatic — it's the reason that she had to go through these past nine months."

Though Griner was sorely missed throughout the 2022 season, the eight-time WNBA All-Star will undoubtedly receive plenty of support from the league and surrounding community regardless of what she decides to do with her future.

Her former coach, Sandy Brondello, said she's "sure mentally, emotionally, physically" Griner will need plenty of time to "decide whether she wants to play again." And while she'd "love to see her back on," Brondello stressed that if the star chose not to return, "it's not a problem at all because she needs to take care of herself."

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert echoed similar sentiments. On a media call the day Griner boarded her flight to Texas, Engelbert said that the league would "give her the appropriate space and time... then follow what Brittney and her family want to do about re-engaging with the WNBA and our players."

Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, told ESPN that "there's no timeline on her return at this point."

"If she wants to play, it will be for her to share," she added. "She has the holidays to rest and decide what's next without any pressure. She's doing really, really well. She seems to have endured this in pretty incredible ways."