Playing pro sports in Russia for foreign-born athletes comes with adjustments and even some pleasant surprises

• Former NHL star Patrik Elias and former NBA player Mardy Collins told Insider they had positive experiences playing professionally in Russia.
• Elias and Collins both enjoyed their respective sports and had an easy time adjusting to Russian life.

WNBA star Brittney Griner's detainment in Russia has brought increased attention to why non-Russian athletes play in the country at all.

Griner, who has been held in Russian custody after customs agents at a Moscow airport allegedly found a vape pen with cannabis oil-filled cartridge in her luggage, spends her WNBA off-seasons playing in Russia, where she makes four times more money than she does in the US. The case is the same for many other WNBA players.

But Patrik Elias was an exception.

The retired New Jersey Devils star and one of the best Czech-born hockey players of all time found himself playing in the Russian Super League (now called the KHL) during the NHL's lockout in the 2004-05 season.

"Hockey-wise, it was a very pleasant experience," Elias told Insider in a phone interview.

Otherwise, Elias said some NHLers were in for a rude awakening when it came to the accommodations they were used to at the game's highest level.

"You don't fly business class or first class or anything like that," Elias said with a chuckle. "They're old planes, old airports."

For other athletes, Russia is often the next-best choice if and when their careers falter in American leagues.

"Most guys usually go to Russia because they usually pay more than a lot of other countries," former NBA player Mardy Collins told Insider.

Collins spent four years in the NBA before moving his career overseas. He spent nine years playing abroad, including the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons for PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban, a Russian team in the VTB United League.

Collins' time in Russia was generally pleasant, he said. On a team level, Collins bonded with his American teammates and had success on the floor.

But Collins enjoyed his Russian experience off the floor, too. The "culture shock" of playing in a foreign country had worn off by the time Collins got to Russia. After some time, he adapted to the city of Krasnodar and found restaurants he enjoyed.

Though the travel was far different from what NBA players enjoy — Lokomotiv flew commercial — Collins noted the team did have their own private bus, which he called "nice." He said most of the hotels they stayed in were also nice, with the occasional subpar hotel in smaller cities.

"Sometimes the best hotels just wasn't what you was accustomed to, but it is their best hotel," Collins said.

But best of all, Lokomotiv paid on time. Collins had heard horror stories of players on other teams not getting paid in timely fashion. Collins had experienced it in other countries, too, where payday would pass without actually receiving his money. Collins said when players confront teams about it, they will often make excuses as to why the payment is late.

"They'll give you some reason, like the sponsors didn't send the money yet or something like that," he said. "And it just gets dragged out to now it's three days, it's a week, it's two weeks, and then next thing you know it's a month late, two months late."

Lokomotiv wasn't like that, Collins said.

"I heard some bad stories in Russia, but my team, no problems. I mean, I'm talking about money's on time every month."

Collins recalled being "shocked" when he was paid early because the scheduled payday would have come on a weekend.

Likewise, Elias said he never dealt with any payday issues with his team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, but he also mentioned hearing stories from elsewhere in Russia about how business was done differently, such as players being paid in cash.

"You hear other stories from other cities, other players, that yes, you get good money, and how you get it, and stuff like that, but I've never experienced it," Elias said.

Beyond the cold weather and "rude" people, though, Collins had just one surprising, negative experience: He and his teammates were fined for losing a game. Most surprising, Collins said, was that the team had been on a lengthy win streak, between playing in their Russian league and EuroCup games, when they lost to a much worse team.

Still, even that was resolved fairly smoothly, as Lokomotiv won a few games that followed, and players were reimbursed for their fines.

"I never had any problems with Loko," Collins said. "It was an amazing organization."