Kyrie Irving turned his attention to blasting Joe Biden for doing nothing to get WNBA player Brittney Griner freed from a Russian prison during his pre-game speech on Wednesday.
The Brooklyn Nets star took the mic to slam Biden, telling him, “Do your job!” in light of the president’s utter failure to get Griner freed from her conviction on drug charges in Russia.
“I appreciate us being able to share this floor together, all of us as brothers,” Irving said, “but the big picture that’s going in the world is free our sister, Brittney Griner, please!”
“Please, POTUS, do your job!” he added. “Everybody, do your job! Please bring our sister home.”
This week a former Russian ambassador to the U.S. said that Biden has been asking Russian authorities to free Griner ahead of the 2022 elections to help Democrats at the ballot box. But he added that Griner is not a priority for the Russian government.
Biden has reportedly offered to exchange convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been sentenced to 25 years in U.S. prison, for Griner and corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who was imprisoned in Russia for alleged espionage that he denies.
Regardless, to date, Biden and his administration have been unable to move the Russians to free Griner, who was convicted in August on drug charges and given a 9-1/2-year prison sentence in Moscow.
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