Brittney Griner’s coach on Russian detention: “If it was LeBron, he would be home, right?”

WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow airport on February 18 for allegedly bringing vape cartridges containing hash oil – which is illegal in Russia – into the country.

Griner’s coach, Vanessa Nygaard, suggested Monday that the WNBA superstar’s clout may be a factor in why there is not more of an urgency to get her out of a Russian jail.

Nygaard said before the team’s game, that if LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers had been locked up abroad, he would have been home by now, via Fox News:

“If it was LeBron, he would be home, right?” she asked. “It is a statement about the value of women. It is a statement about the value of a Black person. It is a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. And we know it. And so, that’s what hurts a little more.”