Brittney Griner makes unofficial return for Mercury

PHOENIX — Brittney Griner sat on the Phoenix Mercury bench and looked around.

There was more than an hour until her first competitive game in 572 days — since Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals — was set to tip off. Fans were starting to file in, some of her teammates were warming up on the court. A buzz around the Footprint Center was brewing. All eyes focused on Griner.

A few hours later, it would all be over. She’d have played 17 minutes, scored 10 points and grabbed three rebounds in her unofficial return to the WNBA in a 90-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks in Friday night’s preseason finale.

Before all of that, though, she sat on the sidelines and started to zone out, thinking about the moment.

“I didn’t think I would be sitting right here,” Griner said. “I didn’t think I would be playing basketball this quickly. Even coming back, I didn’t know how it was going to go getting back into it. I mean, I’m grateful to be here for sure. I’m not going to take today for granted, but it was a lot to take in.”

The crowd of 4,563 gave her a standing ovation when she was introduced before the game, and a group of fans near the tunnel gave her an ovation as she walked off the court at halftime. One fan yelled to her: “Glad you’re back!” The fans sitting courtside, who Griner has grown to know during her decade in Phoenix, came up to talk to her.

“It was just a good moment,” Griner said.

From when she emerged out of the tunnel about 90 minutes before tipoff, Griner was the center of attention. She couldn’t walk the length of the court without being stopped, high-fived or hugged. Anyone she walked by, including Sparks players and coaches, smiled and said hello.

She acknowledged that hearing the national anthem before the game “definitely hit different” after a nearly 10-month detainment in Russia.

On the court, the Mercury didn’t waste any time getting Griner involved.

After she won the opening tip, the Mercury fed her in the post on each of their first three possessions that didn’t end in a turnover. Phoenix made it clear early in the first quarter that its offense still ran through the two-time defensive player of the year.

Griner continued to work in the post with a series of moves that kept Sparks defenders on her hip and, at times, helpless against her size. She seamlessly picked up the two-man game with guard Diana Taurasi, handing off the ball to the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer off picks — just as they had done in nine seasons together.

Still, Griner was brutally critical of her first game in 19 months.

“S—,” she deadpanned. “I mean, honestly, like, I didn’t guard anybody today. First game back, preseason game. The game in L.A. (in Friday’s season opener) will look totally different. We’re going to do totally…