Brittney Griner competed in her first official WNBA game in 579 days on Friday night, playing 25 minutes in the Phoenix Mercury’s 94-71 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena. The eight-time WNBA All-Star recorded 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.

Griner’s return to the WNBA was celebrated by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who helped bring the Phoenix Mercury star home from Russia after she was wrongfully detained for 10 months last year. Harris met with both the Mercury and Sparks pre-game.

“Thank you for all that you did in supporting Brittney,” Harris said in the Mercury locker room. “I know that was rough and so difficult.”

“It was nice to be able to see her face-to-face, talk to her, thank her for everything,” Griner said of the vice president’s visit. “And then the team really enjoyed it, too, when she came in.”

Harris was also presented with a Sparks jersey by WNBA players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike.

“Tonight is a game, but we’re also celebrating the return of one of our own, and what the Biden administration did to make that happen is really important,” Ogwumike said. “We know that wasn’t easy. But we want to say thank you so much for us to be able to play against BG tonight.”

The 10,396 fans in attendance at Crypto.com Arena included Billie Jean King, Dawn Staley and Magic Johnson. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert also attended the game.

Ahead of tipoff, Griner stood with her Mercury teammates for the playing of the U.S. national anthem. Prior to her detention in Russia, Griner chose not to be on the court for the playing of the national anthem, as part of a protest against police brutality and the treatment of Black Americans.

Griner was asked about the change post-game.

“One good thing about this country is you have the right to protest, the right to able to speak out, question, challenge and do all these things,” she said. “What I went through and everything, it just means a little bit more to me now. So I want to be able to stand. I was literally in a cage [in Russia] and could not stand the way I wanted to.

“Just being able to hear my national anthem, see my flag, I definitely want to stand. Now everybody that will not stand or not come out, I totally support them 100 percent. We’re fighting (for) a good cause. …  That’s our right, as an American, in this great country.”

In an essay for Time, Griner’s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas wrote about her client’s change in stance, noting that Griner’s national anthem decision is “is sure to be misinterpreted… by the same ‘shut-up-and-dribble’ voices that reflexively attack and distort every principled expression of athlete dissent.”

THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT 👏

1-1 from the field as Brittney Griner drains her first bucket back in the W #BGisBack

📺 @ESPN pic.twitter.com/hG4CbzPinY

— WNBA (@WNBA) May 20, 2023

The USA women's hockey team came out on top over the weekend, kicking off the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada by dominating their northern neighbors, outscoring them by an impressive 10-2 margin across the pair's first two games.

US forward Abbey Murphy emerged as a series star, scoring a natural hat trick in the team's 4-1 win in Cleveland on Thursday — the first three-goal turn by a USA player against Canada since team captain Hilary Knight did so at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship.

"I told [Murphy], 'You set the bar pretty high,'" said Knight, who added her own hat trick to the mix in Saturday's 6-1 victory in Buffalo.

"I love how we showed up," the 36-year-old continued. "We've been working like dogs since August and to get rewarded for our work, and see situations that we need to work on."

Notably, while the USA brought their entire 2025 world championship-winning roster to the first two Rivalry Series games, Canada chose to evaluate some fresh faces while resting a number of standout veterans, including their No. 1 goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens — a fact that should temper the sting of adding two big losses to their now four-game skid against the US.

With women's hockey taking over Milan at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February, the last two 2025 Rivalry Series matchups will more likely see both sides testing their final rosters for Italy.

How to watch the final games in the 2025 Rivalry Series

Canada will welcome the USA for the last two matchups in the 2025 Rivalry Series, with the puck dropping in Edmonton, Alberta, at 9 PM ET for both the December 10th and 13th clashes.

Both games will air live on the NHL Network.

The LPGA is bringing star power to Florida this week, as a wealth of women's golf talent — and one basketball superstar — tee off at the 2025 edition of The ANNIKA.

Kicking off the event on Wednesday was the annual Pro-Am, with Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark headlining the field for the second straight year.

World No. 2 golfer Nelly Korda once again joined Clark through her first nine holes, as Fever teammates Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull served as guest caddies.

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The four-day professional tournament will then tee off on Thursday, though current world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul will not be in attendance for the second year in a row.

Korda, however, will lead the charge to both defend her 2024 title and secure her first win of the 2025 LPGA season — as well as add to her full trio of trophies collected at The ANNIKA.

Four other Top-10 players will look to upend Korda's back-to-back bid, including No. 3 Miyu Yamashita, No. 6 Charley Hull, No. 9 Mao Saigo, and No. 10 Lottie Woad.

With the 2025 CMA Group Tour Championship capping the LPGA season later this month, The ANNIKA will also see golfers on the bubble — like US stars Rose Zhang and 2023 champion Lilia Vu — try to snag enough points to make the end-of-year tournament's final 60-player cut.

How to watch The ANNIKA 2025 LPGA tournament

Coverage of the fifth edition of The ANNIKA continues through Sunday, airing live on the Golf Channel.

The No. 3 UCLA Bruins rose to the occasion on Monday, looking like 2025/26 NCAA basketball championship contenders as they took down the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners 73-59 in Sacramento.

Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkens made the difference for the Bruins, leading all scorers with 20 points while opposing defenses limited both UCLA center Lauren Betts and Oklahoma big Raegan Beers to single digits.

Bruins forward Angela Dugalić also put up a standout performance, coming off the bench to score 16 points and snag 15 rebounds on Monday.

"There are so many weapons that I feel like it's hard for the defense to choose what to take away," Kneepkens said ahead of Monday's matchup. "What makes this team special is that any night could be someone's night."

Monday's clash with UCLA also served as the national broadcast debut of Oklahoma freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez, with the No. 1 high school basketball recruit seeing her first Top 10 NCAA matchup as a Sooner.

Chavez had a slow start against the experienced Bruins, registering 11 points, three assists, and two rebounds across her 32 minutes on the court.

How to watch UCLA basketball this week

The heat continues for No. 3 UCLA on Thursday, when the Bruins will host the No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels at 9 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Newly formed offseason league Project B is stocking up, with Phoenix Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas becoming the second big-name WNBA player to sign with the overseas venture ahead of its anticipated November 2026 debut.

Thomas follows Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike in joining Project B, a traveling tournament-style competition reportedly offering players significant pay raises into the seven- and even eight-figure echelon — as well as equity stakes in the league.

Thomas will still feature in the 2026 season of Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball this January, with the launch of Project B expected to conflict with Unrivaled's third season in 2027.

With salaries reportedly topping both Unrivaled and the WNBA, Project B's funding sources came into question after Ogwumike's announcement last week.

In February, The Financial Times named Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as a league investor, though Project B co-founder Grady Burnett denied those claims to Front Office Sports last week.

However, the league is working with event partner Sela, a known subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, though Burnett was quick to qualify that "Sela is one event partner that we pay money to. We do not have any dollars coming from them."

With the first season of Project B set to field 66 players, expect more high-profile signings to continue as the new venture adds to the increasingly crowded WNBA offseason space.