Brittney Griner speaks out in first press conference since her detention : NPR

During a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday, Brittney Griner told reporters she wasn’t planning to play overseas again unless she was invited to the Olympics.

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

During a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday, Brittney Griner told reporters she wasn’t planning to play overseas again unless she was invited to the Olympics.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who spent 10 months in Russian detention, said her days of playing in international leagues are over.

“I’m never going overseas to play again unless I’m representing my country at the Olympics,” she said on Thursday, as part of her first press conference since she was released in December. “You know, if I make that team, that would be the only time I would leave the U.S. soil.”

The meeting with national and local press was held to discuss Griner’s return to court ahead of the upcoming WNBA season with the Phoenix Mercury.

But it was also the first chance for many reporters to ask the star center about being arrested by Russian airport security on charges of drug smuggling last February. Griner was held in detention for 10 months before the U.S. negotiated her release in exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.

She took to the stage in Phoenix wearing a black T-shirt with the phrase “bring our families home.”

“Ooh, a little different than a basketball press conference. A lot of media in here,” she said with a laugh.

And while Griner kept up the light air throughout the half-hour session, she couldn’t fight back tears when the first reporter asked about how she stayed resilient during her imprisonment.

“Just digging deep, honestly,” Griner said. “I know this sounds so small, but, you know, dying in practice and hard workouts. You find a way to just grind it out. Just put your head down and just keep moving forward. You know, you can never stand still.”

She didn’t share many details about her detention, with Mercury staff warning reporters of security concerns. But she did say that, even in the isolation of a foreign prison, she was aware of the support from fans and the push from U.S. officials to bring her home.

“It made me a little bit more comfortable,” she…