Brittney Griner details knife attack in China
Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner described to ESPNW a knife attack in China that she says she was involved in.
The attack reportedly occurred in Shenyang, a city in northeast China, on Monday. Griner said that a man jabbed at Griner and one of her teammates as they boarded a team bus.
She said the knife had a dull tip and that the jacket Griner was wearing weakened the force of the jab.
From ESPNW:
Right then, my teammate grabbed me from behind and pulled me further onto the bus. But my second teammate was still in the front, and I watched as he jabbed at her four or five times. I thought she was getting stabbed. And I couldn't wrap my mind around what was happening. I felt like I was watching a foreign movie, because I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying. The whole thing felt surreal.
We were a few seats away, and everything felt slow-motion. But I couldn't just sit there and watch this happen. I held my backpack in front of me, for protection in case he started jabbing at me again, and I stood with the goal of distracting the attacker from what he was doing. But my other teammate held my arm.
Griner's agent told the AP that Griner did not need stitches.
Griner, a 6-foot-8 center, was named the WNBA's Defensive Player of the Year in 2014 after blocking a league-record 129 shots.
She averaged 15.6 points, 8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks in helping the Mercury win the WNBA title last season.
The two-time WNBA All-Star is playing with a team in the Chinese Basketball Association during the offseason.
