(AP)—Russia has been a popular destination for WNBA players like Brittney Griner over the past two decades because of the money they can make playing there in the winter.
Top players can earn more than $1 million in the offseason by playing far from home, nearly quadruple what they can make as a base salary in the WNBA.
Griner was returning from a break for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup qualifying tournaments when she was arrested at an airport near Moscow last month after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges.
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