WNBA celebrity Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine decades in prison after she was convicted on drug prices in Russia past week.

Griner originally pleaded responsible to the drug prices. She was arrested in February for bringing vape cartridges that contains oils derived from hashish by a Moscow airport. She experienced been detained ever because and is likely to be holed up in the country right up until the U.S. and Russia concur on a prisoner swap.

Lisa Leslie, a previous WNBA superstar who received 4 Olympic gold medals through her illustrious profession, attended Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s Ping Pong 4 Purpose function on Monday. She spoke to WHD News Digital on Griner’s sentencing.

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WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner holds pictures standing in a cage at a courtroom for a hearing in Khimki just exterior Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Picture via WHD)

"It’s unlucky," the former LA Sparks excellent reported. "But I’m hoping that every thing will conclude up shifting in the appropriate path. I know they experienced asked for her to plead responsible, she did. Let’s hope we can get an trade and get her house as shortly as doable.

"Brittney’s always in our prayers and we are all hopeful that this can all appear to an close before long."

Leslie mentioned she thought Griner’s arrest and sentencing was a lesson for everybody.

NBA, WNBA Contact BRITTNEY GRINER'S SENTENCING 'UNJUSTIFIED AND Regrettable,' Athletics Earth REACTS

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted from a courtroom ater a listening to, in Khimki just exterior Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022.  (WHD Photograph/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

"And we discovered a whole lot from that lesson that, you know, for all of us. We have to make excellent selections and genuinely conscious of how we move for the reason that just about every state is not the exact and the principles are distinctive and we have to know that," she said.

U.S. Secretary of Condition Antony Blinken spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov very last month urging him to acknowledge a deal for Griner and Paul Whelan, an American who was jailed on espionage costs.

Lavrov reported previous 7 days in Cambodia at a conference of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Russia was "prepared to talk about" a prisoner swap but only through a dedicated Russia-U.S. channel set up by President Biden and President Vladimir Putin.

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner drinks water as she listens to the verdict in a cage in a courtroom in Khimki just exterior Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Picture via WHD)

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"If the Americans all over again consider to engage in public diplomacy and make loud statements about their intention to just take particular ways, it’s their small business, I would even say their issue," Lavrov said. "The Us citizens frequently have problems observing agreements on quiet and skilled perform."

The contributed to this report.