Boston Celtics wear 'We Are BG' shirts in support of detained Brittney Griner / News - Basketnews.com

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A number of Boston Celtics players wore "We Are BG" T-shirts to practice on Saturday, in protest of WNBA star Brittney Griner's ongoing detention in Russia.

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"She's been over there for an extended amount of time, and we feel like enough is enough," Jaylen Brown said, via Joe Vardon of The Athletic. "Being an athlete, we're not just up here just to entertain you guys. We also have a voice."

The 31-year-old Griner has been in custody since February after Moscow airport officials allegedly found cannabis oil in her luggage.

Her detention came as US and Women's National Basketball Association officials urged Americans to leave Russia amid rising tensions over Ukraine, which Russia invaded on 24 February.

The U.S. State Department has classified her ongoing detainment of 107 days as "wrongfully detained."

The Celtics' shirts had a QR code on the back so people can scan for more information. It linked to an online petition seeking 300,000 signatures in support of the notion of bringing Griner home.

"We're asking everybody in the sports world to come together collectively and fight this," Marcus Smart told The Athletic. "We over here, our brothers and our sisters in this game, we won't allow that and we're not going to stand for it. We stand with her."

Boston star Jayson Tatum, who traveled with Griner to Tokyo last summer with USA Basketball for the Olympics, reiterated his teammates.

"It's extremely tough seeing what she's going through. I know everybody sees and feels that, and obviously we're all together in support of trying to bring her back to her family and things like that."

As it was announced earlier, Russia was looking to exchange Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap for notorious convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout.

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