JTFMax:

Will Former Basketball Bully Dennis Rodman (61) Get Brittney Griner (31) Released?

The five-time NBA champion (who won two trophies with the Detroit Pistons and three with the Chicago Bulls) wants to personally campaign for the imprisoned basketball player in Russia.

Rodman told NBC News on Sunday, "I have permission to travel to Russia to help the girl." He did not say who gave him that permission. He wants to leave this week. "I know Putin too well," Rodman was further quoted as saying. In early August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for drug smuggling.

According to NBC, Rodman made the comments at an athletic apparel event in Washington. He did not give any further information about his travel plans. However, a senior US official told AFP that Washington is known to have made a sizeable offer to Russia. "Anything other than negotiations through the established channels could complicate and hamper efforts to secure a release."

With Team USA, Griner won gold in Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020

Griner, double Olympic champion with Team USA (2016 in Rio de Janeiro, 2020 in Tokyo), was arrested on arrival in Moscow in February. Cartridges for e-cigarettes with cannabis oil were found in their luggage. Despite tensions over Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, discussions have been ongoing between Moscow and Washington about a possible prisoner exchange since Griner's arrest.

2014: Rodman with North Korea's ruler Kim Jung-un.

Rodman is known for his controversial forays into international politics. In recent years he has developed a friendship with North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un and has traveled to the internationally isolated country several times. In 2018, he flew to Singapore when then-US President Donald Trump met Kim there. 

Rodman had also spoken positively about Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past. In 2014, after meeting in Moscow, he called Putin "pretty cool."

Griner is considered one of the best basketball players in the world and plays in the US professional league WNBA for Phoenix Mercury. During the WNBA break, she runs for the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg.