Brittney Griner’s agent on the basketball star’s recovery after release from Russia

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is finally back in the U.S.

  But, after 294 days of being detained in Russia, her reintegration into American life is far from over.

  Stephanie Sy has more on how the basketball star is adjusting to her return.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Good evening, Judy.

  Well, it took months of tireless efforts behind the scenes not just from the Biden administration, but from friends, family and supporters, to secure Griner's release.

  And one person who worked around the clock to bring Griner home was her agent and her friend, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, who joins me now.

  Lindsay, it's a pleasure to have you on the program. I have so many questions.

  I'm sure it's a relief to have her back. It's been less than a week. We all want to know, how is B.G. doing?

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Agent For Brittney Griner:

  Yes, thanks for having me.

  B.G. is doing really, really well. And for those who know B.G., maybe they're not that surprised. She's incredibly resilient, and really kind, and so, so thankful for the opportunity to be back, especially in time for the holidays, and I know is going to embrace her opportunity now to advocate for others getting home.

  And she is just full of gratitude. And she has taken advantage of the time to sample all of the finest cuisine of San Antonio. She's had Mexican. She's had pizza. And she is sampling all of the barbecue. So she's taken advantage of all the resources as well.

  (LAUGHTER)

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  We're very thankful for the reintegration program that SPEHA provides. And she's going to take her time and make sure that she utilizes those resources.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Yes, I don't think they have barbecue in the penal colony in Mordovia, Russia.

  Lindsay, I wonder if there was any — any time at which you didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, where you thought B.G. might be spending the winter and nine years in a Russian work camp?

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  I did not. I didn't. I never lost hope.

  That said, I signed up for whatever was going to be necessary. My first conversations with Cherelle following Brittney's initial detainment, my last words to Brittney were: "We are going to get you home."

  And we remained committed to that. And we remained committed to doing whatever it took to get her there. And we did it.

  So, well, and, on that, her attorney Alex Boykov actually did learn how to make barbecue and brought her barbecue a few times when she was in pretrial. So I want to send a big thank you to Alex and Maria, who were harassing representatives.

  But we didn't lose hope. We stayed focused. We stayed disciplined. And we knew that we would get her home. There was so much power in the coalition that showed up to advocate for her. And we stayed really positive.

• Stephanie Sy:

  I know that she's resilient. She's an elite athlete, and she has also overcome a lot of obstacles throughout her life.

  But are there tough issues she's going to have to deal with as she reintegrates? And I am curious, Lindsay, whether she is aware of what a target she has become of politics upon her release.

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  She is.

  And it's really nothing new to Brittney. Brittney wakes up every morning and has no choice but to essentially be political just by nature of being who she is. But B.G. being who she is what makes her powerful, is what helped us get her home. The coalition that came together to get her home as representative of that identity that a lot of people saw as a liability.

  And we didn't. We saw it as an opportunity. We knew it was the coalition that elected this administration. And we worked really hard to bring that coalition together to ensure that everyone was saying the same thing and that everyone understood what the goal was. And that was ultimately getting her home.

  So, yes, life has changed. Life has changed for Brittney. This is not a fame that she was asking for. Brittney has never been concerned about being famous. I think Brittney wanted to be happy. She wanted to be free. She wants to help other people be happy.

  And she's going to have more opportunity to do that. And with that opportunity always comes sacrifice and always comes challenge. But she's got a big, passionate and experienced team to help support her in that transition. And we plan to be there now, just like we were when she was in detainment.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Besides just being happy and being back with her wife and her family, what does Brittney want now?

  I know a ton of Phoenix Mercury fans — that's where I'm based here, Lindsay — that want to see her back with the WNBA.

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  Oh, yes.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Is she thinking about that? Is she training? Is she practicing?

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  Well, I think everybody saw that one of the first things she did once she was cleared to do so was find a court, strap on those black Chuck Taylors, and her first move was a dunk.

  And Brittney did actually have — there was a hoop in her pretrial detention center. And her attorneys asked her if they wanted her to bring a ball and — or one of them to bring a ball. And she said no. And that made us all feel really sad. And I will let Brittney tell the story of why. That's what she answered.

  But I do think it is telling about the strength of her spirit that that's what she chose to do here a couple of days ago. And I'm going to let her take her time in making a decision about what she wants to do next, but thankfully, she's going to be able to do whatever she wants. If that includes basketball, I will make sure that she has a chance to tell you about it.

• Stephanie Sy:

  You talked about the movement, #WeAreBG, that helped Ms. Griner get out of that situation.

  And I understand that movement is now trying to gain the release of other Americans that have been wrongfully detained, including Paul Whelan, the Marine vet who the Russians refused to release in the swap.

  How important is that to Brittney Griner now that she's out?

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  So important.

  I talked to her last night on FaceTime. She got to see my kid's new Christmas P.J.s. And we talked about some of what might be next. And she raised the idea and said that she had been thinking for the last 10 months about how she was going to use her platform to help bring people home.

  And she named Paul specifically. She wanted to talk to his family as soon as she got back home-home. And she is totally committed to figuring out all the ways that she can use this platform now to help reunite more families.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Brittney Griner's agent, thank you so much for those interesting details and for being on the "NewsHour."

  Really appreciate it.

• Lindsay Kagawa Colas:

  Thanks for having me.