The professional American basketball player, Brittney Griner was born in October 18th 1990 in Houston to Sandra and Raymond Griner. Brittney’s father, Raymond Griner served as a a former Harris County sheriff and Marine veteran in 1968 and 1969. Brittney is the youngest among her three older siblings.

Early Life & Education

Griner attended Houston’s Nimitz High School. She played varsity volleyball as a freshman and earned letters in both basketball and volleyball throughout high school. Griner began working out with the guys’ basketball team in her second year. She also worked out with a Nimitz football coach to build up her leg strength in order to learn how to dunk. A meeting with Shaquille O’Neal resulted from a YouTube video of her dunks during her junior season that received more than 6.6 million views. Griner led the Nimitz Cougars to the Texas 5A girls’ basketball state final during her senior season, where they were defeated by Mansfield Summit High School 52-43. As a senior, Griner made 52 dunks in 32 games, breaking the previous mark of six against Aldine High School.  Bill White, the mayor of Houston, announced May 7, 2009, to be Brittney Griner Day.

She made history on November 11, 2008, when she tallied 25 blocks in a high school game against Houston Alief Hastings, the most ever made by a girl in the country. She set a single-season record for blocks in her 2008–09 campaign with 318. Griner was selected as a 2009 WBCA High School All-America Game participant and an All-American by the WBCA. He led his team with 20 points and 9 rebounds.

Griner participated in collegiate basketball at Waco, Texas’ Baylor University. One of the best shot blockers in women’s basketball history, Griner established the record for blocked shots in a season with 223 as a rookie. Griner’s triple-double on December 16, 2009, included 34 points, 13 rebounds, and a Big 12 Conference record 11 blocked shots. She made the second and third dunks of her collegiate career in a landslide 99-18 victory against Texas State University in January 2010, becoming just the second woman to dunk twice in a single college game and the seventh athlete overall to slam dunk during a women’s college basketball game. On March 3rd 2010, Brittney was ejected from a game after she three a right-handed roundhouse punch which broke the nose of Texas Tech’s Jordan Barncastle while they were both competing for a position in the lane and foul was being called on Barncastle. Kim Mulkey, Lady Bears’ coach also imposed a one-game suspension in addition to the one-game suspension given to Brittney according to the NCAA rules.

Career

The Phoenix Mercury selected Griner with the first overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft. Griner would excel in her debut season, earning WNBA all-star honors and becoming a strong force on defense in the league with an average of 3.0 blocks per game. Griner equaled the WNBA dunk record on her debut on May 27, 2013, against the Chicago Sky, scoring two dunks to match Candace Parker’s career total. She was the third WNBA player to dunk as a result, and the first to do so twice in a single game. Despite receiving the most votes, Griner missed the 2013 WNBA All-Star Game due to a right knee injury; Tina Thompson took her place. Griner expressed interest in the possibility after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he would think about drafting him into the NBA in April 2013, but the franchise made no invitation for Griner to try out.

Griner’s statistics would improve in 2014, when she averaged 15.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game. In a victory over the Tulsa Shock on June 29, 2014, Griner set a WNBA record with 11 blocks in addition to her 21 points and 8 rebounds. Griner made history on August 24, 2014, when she helped the Phoenix Mercury upset the Los Angeles Sparks, 93-68, at Staples Center. Griner was the first WNBA player to slam dunk in a playoff game. Griner would go on to have the most productive defensive season in WNBA history in 2015, surpassing Margo Dydek’s mark from the 1998 season despite missing the first seven games of the season due to a suspension resulting from her domestic violence case. Griner averaged a career high and WNBA record 4.0 blocks per game. The Mercury made it to the playoffs despite playing without their all-star player Diana Taurasi (who missed the season to play abroad). In game 1 of the 2015 playoffs against the Tulsa Shock, which she had previously defeated with 11 blocks the year before, Griner set a WNBA playoff record with 11 blocks in addition to her 18 points and 8 rebounds.

With Diana Taurasi back for the 2016 campaign, the Mercury had a more successful playoff run. Griner led the Mercury to a 16-18 record while averaging 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per game on route to the playoffs. In a victory over the Atlanta Dream during the season, Griner achieved the sixth triple-double in WNBA history with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks. The Mercury were the eighth-seed in the league when they played the Indiana Fever in the first round of the WNBA’s new playoff structure. Griner will play in her sixth career all-star game in 2019 after being selected for the WNBA All-Star Game. Griner recorded a season-high 34 points on August 25, 2019, in a 94-86 defeat to the Chicago Sky. Griner would go on to lead the league in blocks for seven straight seasons and lead the league in scoring for the second time in her career by the end of the season. With a final record of 15–19, the Mercury earned the eighth seed. The Chicago Sky defeated the Mercury 105-76 in the first round elimination match, eliminating them from the tournament. Due to a knee injury, Griner abandoned the game in the second half.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season at IMG Academy was postponed and reduced to 22 games. Griner left the bubble after 12 games for unspecified personal reasons.  The Mercury ended 13-9 without Griner, earning the fifth seed. They would advance to the second round, where they would suffer an elimination loss to the Minnesota Lynx.

Personal Life

Griner engaged to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson on August 14, 2014. They were both detained on assault and disorderly conduct charges on April 22, 2015, after police were called to a quarrel between the two inside their suburban Phoenix, Arizona, home. Both of them had received some wounds. They got married the next month, on May 8, 2015, in Phoenix, notwithstanding this event. The WNBA suspended Griner and Johnson for seven games each on May 15, 2015, following Griner’s guilty plea to the counts of disorderly behavior. Additionally, Griner had to finish 26 weeks of domestic violence counseling. Griner and Johnson made the announcement that Johnson was expecting twins through in vitro fertilization on June 4, 2015. After less than a week of marriage, Griner moved for the annulment of the union the next day, charging fraud and duress. The cancellation was rejected. On October 12, 2015, Johnson gave birth to twin girls 16 weeks early. Johnson received a child support order from Griner. In June 2016, the couple’s divorce became legally binding.

Brittney Griner then got married to Cherelle Griner in 2019. Cherelle is a former teacher and lawyer who graduated from the North Carolina Central University of Law.

Net Worth

Brittney’s net worth is estimated to be around $5 million.