10 Best WNBA Players of the 2010s: Brittney Griner (No. 8) developed into more than a defensive force

The WNBA thrived in the 2010s because of the everyday, enduring efforts of talented, engaging women’s basketball players. On their own steam, with neither sufficient marketing nor adequate financial investment, the players proved that women’s professional basketball is here to stay. As the decade winds to a close, we reflect on the players who made the biggest impact both on and off the court.

Here are the 10 best WNBA players of the 2010s:

8. Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury)

Honors, achievements and numbers of note in the 2010s: 2014 WNBA champion, 2x Defensive Player of the Year, 5x All-WNBA, 6x All-Defensive, 6x All-Star, 7x top 3 in blocks

Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

From raw to refined: That trajectory describes the past decade for Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner.

When Griner first entered the league in 2013 as a sinewy 6-foot-9 starting center, many expected her to instantly and easily dominate the game due to her length and wingspan. Indeed, she lived up to those expectations, asserting herself as a defensive difference-maker and winning Defensive Player of the Year in her second season. That same season she was the defensive fulcrum for the decade’s best team, the 2014 WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury.

Yet, success is women’s professional basketball requires being more than a supposed physical marvel and Griner is much, much more than one.

Although she can roll to the hoop with force, Griner has become one of the league’s best because of how she has rounded out her offensive repertoire. When she establishes deep post position, she confidently and quickly turns and scores. She does not overpower her opponent, but finishes with finesse. She also can operate methodically on the block, rarely appearing rushed as she assesses the floor before making her move. Her turn-around fadeaway has become almost deadly. Plus, her scoring numbers over the past three seasons testify to her diverse, dangerous offensive game.

Yet, as Griner has developed on the court, she has remained unapologetically herself off it. When she entered the league in 2013, Griner decided she would not be shy about her sexuality, becoming one of the first, and most prominent, WNBA players to openly, unhesitatingly identity as gay. Griner has representational power that — by her sheer existence and insistence on being who she wants to be — counters and quiets racist and homophobic spewings.