Brittney Griner is attacked by knife-wielding man in China

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Brittney Griner was recently attacked by a knife-wielding assailant.

Griner and another member of the team were assaulted but did not sustain serious injuries in the attack.

The reigning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year is playing overseas for the Beijing Great Wall. It is her second season playing in China.

Griner suffered a minor cut to her elbow, while her teammate was wearing two jackets that shielded her from the blade.

Police apprehended the suspect shortly after the attack. Griner indicated that the man was “clearly either mentally ill or very drunk.” The attacker reportedly chased the players, then fled the scene, only to return bloodied, at which point he was arrested.

Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said that the attack “was a seemingly random incident.” The players were trying to board the team’s bus when the incident occurred.

For her part, Griner said in email to the Associated Press that she 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 Phoenix Mercury, the WNBA franchise that Griner led to the championship earlier this year, tweeted their support:

Griner followed up with an update on her Instagram account:

http://instagram.com/p/u92PjwzBXa/