In past years, Griner has advocated against playing the national anthem ahead of sporting events. She joined several WNBA peers by remaining in the locker room for pregame festivities during the 2021 season.
But after spending 10 months detained in Russia, Griner has instead opted to stand for the anthem during the 2023 season.
Days ahead of Griner's debut, her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, penned an essay for Time magazine in which she explained the reasoning behind Griner's choice.
"Having been put in a literal cage, too small for her frame, stripped of her essential American freedoms, and deprived of even her most basic rights during a sham trial and unjust sentencing, Brittney, supported by many other players, will make a statement this WNBA season by standing tall for those uniquely American freedoms — the most important of which being the absolute and inviolable and constitutionally protected freedom to stand, sit, kneel, praise, protest, and otherwise make your voice heard," Colas wrote.