Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, watches as the 2021-2022 NBA Championship banner is raised before the team's basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry reacts after receiving his 2021-2022 NBA championship ring before the team's basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)Golden State Warriors' Andre Iguodala, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson look at their 2021-2022 NBA championship rings before the team's basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) gets past Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonnie Walker IV, left, on a screen by forward Draymond Green (23) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)FILE - WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom after a hearing in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, watches as the 2021-2022 NBA Championship banner is raised before the team's basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)
SAN FRANCISCO – Stephen Curry took the microphone in the middle of Golden State's championship ring ceremony Tuesday night to make an impassioned plea in support of Brittney Griner as the WNBA star spent her 32nd birthday in a Russian prison.
“We want to continue to use our platform and the opportunity to shout out a very special member of the basketball community. Brittney Griner's birthday is today, she's 32,” Curry told the crowd on opening night before the defending champions hosted LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. “We want to continue to let her name be known and we pray ... it’s been 243 days since she was wrongfully incarcerated in Russia. We hope that she comes home soon, that everybody's doing their part to get her home.”
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The Warriors, long committed to social issues far beyond basketball, celebrated their fourth championship in eight years.
Griner is awaiting a hearing in Russia later this month for her appeal of a nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.
She was convicted Aug. 4 after Russian police said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. Her defense lawyers said she had been prescribed cannabis for pain. The WNBA star said she had inadvertently packed them and had no criminal intent.
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