WNBA star Brittney Griner remains imprisoned in Russia, and many people have argued President Joe Biden and his administration are not doing enough to bring her home. NBA star LeBron James said she should be questioning her desire to return at all.
In a trailer for a new episode of his talk show “The Shop,” James suggested Griner may feel like she has been abandoned by the United States.
“Over 110 days,” James said. “Now, how can she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?’”
According to NPR, Griner was initially arrested on Feb. 17, at an airport near Moscow after staff allegedly found vape cartridges containing marijuana in her luggage.
On Thursday, Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Moscow-area court, CNN reported. The charges could carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
“She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people,” Griner’s legal team said in a statement.
“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”
While James was not the first to suggest the U.S. government should do more to help Griner avoid having to stay in a Russian prison, he took his comments further than most by saying he would question a return to the country if he were Griner.
If James hates America, should he simply leave?
Multiple conservative commentators torched James on Twitter following his comments.
“LeBron James thinks America is so bad Brittney Griner might prefer to just stay in a Russian prison for a decade,” The Daily Caller editor David Hookstead wrote on Twitter. “People on ESPN act like this clown is a genius. In reality, LeBron is incredibly stupid.”
LeBron James thinks America is so bad Brittney Griner might prefer to just stay in a Russian prison for a decade.
People on ESPN act like this clown is a genius. In reality, LeBron is incredibly stupid. https://t.co/ShPS4Pym86
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) July 12, 2022
Outkick founder Clay Travis referred to James as a “professional idiot.”
LeBron James, professional idiot, says he would question ever returning to the United States if he’d been arrested in Russia like Brittany Griner. https://t.co/L2CAJivkpj
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 12, 2022
USA Today interviewed David Whelan, whose brother is being held in a Russian prison for a spying charge he denies. Whelan said the condition of Russian prisons is abysmal.
“When they talk about buildings being Stalin-era, they’re not kidding,” Whelan said. “Prisoners have to maintain the cleanliness of their cell, and so it was at first quite filthy, since the previous occupant had not seemed concerned about cleanliness. You are allowed a weekly shower and a daily walk.”
He said guards show “no interest in nutrition” for prisoners, and friends or family members often have to bring in food for many of them.
Meanwhile, James is enjoying the NBA off-season in America. According to contract information from Sportrac, he is set to be paid a base salary of more than $44 million dollars for the season starting later this year.
