Brittney Griner negotiation strategy is to 'say less and push more privately,' the WNBA commissioner says

• WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since February on drug smuggling charges.
• Those close to the situation have adopted a "say less, push privately" strategy to aid in her return.

WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has been in Russian custody for approximately one month after she was arrested in February for possession of marijuana at a Moscow airport.

A source close to the situation told Insider Thursday that "Brittney is OK" and has regularly met with her legal representation throughout her detainment. Still, few details surrounding the two-time Olympic gold medalist's precarious situation have been confirmed.

The drug trafficking case being brought against her, the state of her defense, and even Griner's whereabouts remain unclear — but that lack of transparency is by design, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Insider.

The relative silence from league, team, and US government officials is part of a "say less and push more privately behind the scenes" strategy to get Griner home as quickly as possible, Engelbert confirmed to Insider.

"We're in daily contact with her agent, her family, her legal representation," the commissioner added. "So it's everybody coordinating on this and obviously we don't want to do or say anything that is going to jeopardize her safety."

Griner's teammates on the Phoenix Mercury and players across the WNBA "have been very cognizant of how important the strategy is," Engelbert said, and have largely adhered to the agreed-upon policy of silence. Still, the league's stars have wanted to send messages of support to the seven-time WNBA All-Star, and Engelbert confirmed that they've made contact with Griner since she's been in Russian custody.

"We've been able to do [that], to make sure she knows that we're supportive and she's loved, et cetera," the commissioner said, adding that Griner's "representation has been able to see her. That's all I can say."

Griner has been detained in Russia since her arrest in February, when agents at Sheremetyevo Airport found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage, according to the New York Times. Since then, Engelbert has been in contact with "the Biden administration, State Department, other elected officials, organizations with expertise in these matters" and others to help quietly negotiate Griner's release and safe return.

Russian media outlet TASS reported on Thursday that a Moscow court has extended Griner's arrest, and she will remain in custody for two more months. Her charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

"The court granted the request of the investigation and extended the period of detention of the US citizen Griner until May 19," the court said, according to TASS.

Though Griner has reportedly voiced concerns about the beds in her jail cell being too small for her 6-foot-9 frame, the outlet claims that she "has no complaints about the conditions of detention" and that she's "calmly accepted the situation in which she found herself."

Griner was headed to Russia in the first place to play for European powerhouse club UMMC Ekaterinburg, as she's done every WNBA off-season since 2014.

About half of WNBA players travel overseas in the winter to supplement their relatively low salaries from the domestic league. Several other WNBA stars — including Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Allie Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot, and Emma Meesseman — also play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, and all of the players competing for Russian and Ukrainian teams, besides Griner, have since returned to the US.

These players command significantly higher salaries abroad than they can earn in the states, with Griner reportedly taking home $1 million each season with UMMC Ekaterinburg. Stateside, Griner is set to take home a league-maximum $227,900 annual base salary from the Mercury this year, though Engelbert and other representatives for the WNBA told Insider she's eligible to make much more — around $500,000 total between bonuses and marketing opportunities — should she stay in America for the winter.

As part of the WNBA's landmark 2020 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) — which significantly increased player salaries — the league and its 12 franchises committed to spending a minimum of $1.6 million each offseason on league and team marketing agreements. The goal of these deals is to compensate players for promoting the WNBA and its teams in the states, thereby offering stars a profitable alternative to traveling overseas for a second paycheck.

"The players know we tripled the pay of the top players, and they know if they don't go [overseas] that we have league marketing money as part of what we did in the progressive collective bargaining agreement to pay them," Engelbert said. "Obviously with the two years of the pandemic, this was the first off-season we had [league marketing agreements]. Many of the players had already committed to overseas contracts."

Engelbert says that "every player has an opportunity to make league marketing dollars" during the offseason. But this year, just three players — Betnijah Laney, Napheesa Collier, and Dearica Hamby — signed league marketing agreements, with 29 additional players across the league taking on less lucrative team marketing contracts.

Though all three players currently signed to league marketing deals were 2021 All-Stars, none boasts the name recognition and star power of a player like Griner.

Still, Engelbert says stars don't exclusively head abroad for a paycheck. While "there's no doubt some players go for the money," she argues that "it's a small, small percentage of them that actually make the big money there" and that "everybody's different as to their motivations" for spending the WNBA off-season abroad or at home.

"There's certainly reasons why they go: make money, play the game, don't get enough playing time, huge passion for the game," Engelbert told Insider. "I mean, I would've been one of those that no matter what you paid me, I'd go over there.... That's how much I love the game and knowing that I only have a certain amount of years [to play]."

"We're not all Tom Brady and Sue Bird, as I say [with] Sue Bird being our Tom Brady," the former college basketball player added.

But even Bird — the superstar Seattle Storm point guard who is embarking on her 19th WNBA season this summer — admits that "a large part of why I went [overseas] was the money."

"Some of the nice byproducts were that I was playing basketball year round, I was able to stay in shape that way, I got to experience other cultures, [and] meet other people," Bird told Insider. "I gave you a laundry list of things, but money was the initial reason, and it was the motivator, for sure."

"But is different for a lot of people," she conceded. "I would argue that a lot of people would say the money, but it does change person to person."

Bird also ackowledged that "there weren't as many opportunities here to stay home" back when she played overseas with UMMC Ekaterinburg and other Russian clubs from 2004 to 2014.

Engelbert, too, is focused on the fact that "we're seeing more and more players stay home" than in years past. Since the 2017-2018 offseason, the total number of WNBA players headed overseas has dropped by 21%.

"We're just going to keep chipping away and give them more opportunities to make money at home," the commissioner said. "And yeah, I mean longer term, we want them to prioritize the WNBA."