Brittney Griner Height, Wife (Glory Johnson), Girlfriend, Parents

Quick Facts

Brittney Griner is a professional basketball player currently with the Women’s National Basketball Association WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. She has been with the Phoenix since 2013 after being selected by the team in the first overall pick of the 2013 WNBA draft.

The tall and beautiful player began playing basketball from her High School days at Nimitz High School, Houston, she also played as a college student at Baylor University Waco, Texas before being drafted into the WNBA in 2013. As a college player, Brittney was the only NCAA basketball player to score 2,000 points and block 500 shots.

Besides playing in High School, college and at the WNBA, she has also played with a couple of international teams like the Zhejiang Golden Bulls and UMMC Ekaterinburg. Find out more thrilling facts about the basketball star, her height, wife, girlfriend, parents and more.

Brief Bio

Brittney’s full name is Brittney Yevette Griner and she was born on the 18th of October 1990 to African American Parents –  Raymond and Sandra Griner. There is no further information about her parents or what they do for a living. She has three older siblings – two sisters, Shkera and Pier and a brother Decarlo Griner.

She attended Nimitz High School, where she began displaying her love for sports. First, she was a member of the school’s volleyball team as a freshman. During her sophomore year, she began practicing with the boys’ basketball team to develop her leg strength in preparation and readiness for learning to dunk. This process was recorded and the video went viral online garnering over 2.7 million views and earning her a meeting with 

The youngster became so good that in her senior days at Nimitz High School she lead the school team to the Texas 5A girls basketball state championship game. The team, unfortunately, lost to Mansfield Summit High School. As a senior, Brittany dunked 52 times in 32 games setting a single-game record of seven dunks against Aldine High School.

Her outstanding records and performances soon earned her a WBCA All-American and she participated in the 2009 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she led the team scoring 20 points and collecting 9 rebounds, she was soon named the nation’s #1 high school women’s basketball player by the Rivals.com.

College Career

After High School, Griner played college basketball at Baylor University, a private Baptist University in Waco, Texas. During her college career, Brittney Griner broke amazing records. In her second year, she received her First Team All-American honors after reaching an average of 23 points a game, including a career-high 40 points against Green Bay in the Sweet 16.

During her junior days, she averaged 23.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 5 blocks per game, blocked more shots than any other Division I women’s team and was named AP Player of the Year.

She became the seventh player to dunk during a women’s college basketball game, as well as the only second woman to dunk twice in a single college game. She also recorded her second and third dunks in her college career in a lopsided 99–18 victory against Texas State University.

In 2010, Baylor entered for the NCAA Tournament as a 4th seed and Griner set a record at the tournament with 14 blocked shots in a 49–33 win against the Georgetown Hoyas. She became the 2012 Premier Player of Women’s College Basketball and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

WNBA Career

Brittany Griner began her professional career in 2013 after being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury as the first overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft for what was to be an amazing and successful Rookie season. In her debut match against Chicago Sky, she became the first player in WNBA history to dunk twice in one game.

Griner was soon named a WNBA all-star, she, however, missed the 2013 WNBA All-Star Game as a result of a right knee injury she sustained and was replaced by Tina Thompson. With the combination of Candice Dupree, Brittney Griner, and , the Mercury had an amazing 2014 season setting the WNBA record for most wins in a regular season.

After her Rookie contract expired, Griner in 2017, re-signed with the Mercury in a multi-year deal and has remained with the team since. Asides from college and WNBA, Brittney Griner, has also played for the U.S basketball team. In 2011, she spent two weeks playing with the U.S. National Team as part of its European training tour under coach Geno Auriemma.

She was also on the 2012 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team finalists roster, but couldn’t participate in the Olympics due to her school schedule and some family challenges. Four years later (2016), she played with the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team at the Summer Olympics and earned her first Olympic medal after they defeated Spain 101–72.

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Brittney Griner – Wife (Glory Johnson), Girlfriend, Parents

Brittney Griner came out as a lesbian in 2013 in an interview with SI.com. According to her, she first told her mom Sandra Griner about her sexuality during her freshman year of high school but kept it hidden from her dad Raymond Briner, until her senior year and once he found out, he kicked her out of the house.

Recalling the difficulty she had to face at the time, the daddy’s girl, who is now in a good relationship with her father, said the experience made her a tough person and prepared her for life. Her story which she wrote down in a memoir with Sue Hovey is entitled In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court.

In 2014, Brittney announced her engagement to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson. A year later in April 2015, they were both arrested on charges of assault and disorderly conduct. The police had broken into their Arizona home to separate a fight between them.

The next month – May 2015,  they tied the knot in Phoenix, Arizona and by June, the couple announced that Johnson was pregnant with twins, the following day, Griner filed for divorce citing fraud and duress.

She revealed she has no biological connection to the twins and that Johnson had become pregnant through IVF treatment using her eggs and a sperm donation. The divorce came through in June 2016.

How Tall Is Brittney Griner? – Height

Basketballers are usually very tall and Brittney Griner is no exception. Standing 6 feet 8 inches above the ground with an 88-inch wingspan and wearing men’s size 17 shoes, she is actually one of the tallest female basketball players alive.

Interestingly, the only international players who surpass her height are Allyssa DeHaan who stands at 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m), Heidi Gillingham at 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m), late Margo Dydek, who stood at 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 m), and late Sue Geh, at 2.06 metres (6 ft 9 in).

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