By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Enter NBA legend Dennis Rodman in the aftermath of Brittney Griner being sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” he recently told NBC News without specifying who he got permission from, “I’m trying to go this week.”
Rodman, 61, was famously involved in the USA diplomatic relations with North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un over the last few years. The new plan is to expand his connection with Vladimir Putin to the point of convincing the president of Russia to release Griner.
The five-time NBA champion, nicknamed the Worm, was considered the league’s bad boy back in his playing days. Post-playing days feature multiple visits to North Korea and befriending Jong-un. In 2018, he was present during then US President Donald Trump’s meetings with Jong-un in Singapore. And in 2014, he met Putin in Moscow and called him ‘cool’.
Griner, 31, was found guilty on drug charges, specifically the attempt to smuggle illegal narcotics. She admitted to indeed carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil but denied intent to a Russian court. The Phoenix Mercury star and also player of UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason was arrested arriving at the Russian capital from New York in February.
Towards the end of her trial in Khimki, the USA produced a proposal for a prisoner exchange to secure her release but to no avail. The offer included the release of Russian arms trafficker Victor Bout, jailed in the USA.