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Brittney Griner Attacked With a Knife in China

by Abby Johnston

This week, WNBA star Brittney Griner was cut by a knife-wielding man after practicing with her team in Shenyang, China, Griner told the Associated Press on Tuesday. The player was caught on her elbow, but Agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas told ESPN that a thick winter coat prevented the knife from causing serious damage. Griner did not sustain a deep enough injury for stitches.

The star was heading back to the team bus with two of her other teammates when the assailant appeared. He began to yell and chase the three women onto the bus while swinging the knife, and in the process he stabbed at Griner's elbow. Griner did not go to the hospital. Another one of Griner's teammates, unidentified by Kagawa Colas, was also stabbed at, but the knife didn't go through her two layers of coats. Griner told the Associated Press in an email:

I was thinking I was going to end up stabbed in China and if he got to us at the back of the bus, I was going to have to fight this man with a knife. The guy was clearly either mentally ill or very drunk. He was yelling about us hitting his wife and it was pretty clear he had no idea who we were.

Kagawa Colas also believed that the attack was random:

This was a seemingly random incident. There is no indication that this was a targeted attack on Brittney or her teammates.

The man was arrested by security guards shortly after the women made it safely to the bus. The 6-foot-8 basketball player took to social media to let fans and supporters know that she was OK after her attack with a "big ass knife," describing her injury as a "little scratch" and showing what is likely her assailant's arrest shortly after the attack.

Griner's fiancée Glory Johnson, who plays for the WNBA team the Tulsa Shock, Instagrammed her support for the superstar. Griner proposed to Johnson this August.

The player was obviously able to bounce back in short order. On Tuesday she scored 19 points for her Beijing-based team Great Wall, because she is a completely boss. This is Griner's second season playing for China professionally, which she does during the WNBA offseason. Griner also plays for the U.S. WNBA team the Phoenix Mercury.

Images: Getty Images, Instagram/brittneygriner, Instagram/missvol25