Bill Oram: She was a WNBA super agent. Then one of her clients became a political prisoner in Russia.

WNBA star Brittney Griner (right), is greeted by wife Cherelle after arriving at Kelly Field in San Antonio following her release in a prisoner swap with Russia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.

WNBA star Brittney Griner (right), is greeted by wife Cherelle after arriving at Kelly Field in San Antonio following her release in a prisoner swap with Russia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.U.S. Army South/Miguel Negron

In the nearly 10 months she spent in Russian prison, Brittney Griner’s communication with the people close to her was limited to letters and journal entries that she would write by hand, then turn over to her attorneys to digitally scan and deliver.

Lindsay Kagawa Colas keeps a file thick with those letters.

Sitting in her home office in Portland’s Northwest Hills on Friday, Colas pulled out a sheet of unlined paper filled with Griner’s neat handwriting, written shortly after Griner was convicted by a Russian court of drug smuggling.

Colas examined the letter and began to read select lines.

“Dang this sucks ... Nine years but I was ready for it. ... They really do as they want here.”

Colas, Griner’s longtime agent, shook her head slightly, struck by the weight of the words all over again.

“I’ve learned so much here from the women on how bad it really is. ... I got more time than people that murdered their husbands, and drug dealers.”

It was dispatches like this one over the past year that reminded Colas of what her friend and client faced as she worked behind the scenes to help secure Griner’s release.

Colas was an important conduit throughout the ordeal, coordinating with Russian attorneys and government officials. She ran point on a task force within her agency, the Wasserman Media Group, and was a source of support for Griner’s wife, Cherelle. When Cherelle was invited to a meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office in September, Colas accompanied her.

And on Dec. 9, when Griner returned to the United States after being the subject of a high-stakes prisoner swap between nuclear superpowers, Colas was among those on the tarmac of a San Antonio military base to greet her.

“I think I’m still processing that these 10 months have resolved in this way,” Colas said.

While Griner was locked up in Russia, much of the work to secure her release was being done in Portland. Colas is originally from the Bay Area, but moved to Portland in 2011 when she married her husband, Andrew.

She has long been one of the most prominent forces in women’s basketball and represents many of the game’s biggest stars. Diana Taurasi was her first client.

But starting with a phone call in the early hours of Feb. 17 from a colleague who told her that Griner had been detained in Moscow, Colas transformed into a pivotal figure in a geopolitical crisis.

“She kind of went into full command central mode,” said Andrew Colas. “And from that moment on, it was her figuring out every human being she needed to know to make sure that she could get Brittney home.”

Colas, who is the mother to sons Drew, 6, and 19-month-old Remi, described the last year as a “steady burn of stress” as she immersed herself in the world of hostage diplomacy and political imprisonment.

She is used to solving problems for her clients, but they don’t usually play out on a global scale.

“My job is to be really good at figuring out who to pull in to help people make really, really important decisions,” she said.

For nearly 10 months, that is what she worked to do.

When she was first detained, Griner could text using WhatsApp but not talk on the phone. Colas told her to drop a pin so she could tell the Russian lawyers she found where to find her. Colas said that they got to her within two hours of the first call.

Griner and Colas exchanged texts set to disappearing mode, because they didn’t know who might be looking or how those messages would be used.

But that communication quickly went away, and Colas instead had daily calls with Griner’s Russian attorneys and stayed in touch with Cherelle.

She was also still working for her other clients. It was Sue Bird’s final season and Colas orchestrated much of the work around that farewell.

But everything tied back to freeing Griner. Much of the WNBA season became a platform to advocate for her release, with “We Are B.G.” becoming a common and visible plea.

“It never left my conscience,” Colas said. “It was probably the first thing I would think about in the morning. And the last thing I would think about going to bed.”

WNBA star Brittney Griner (left), hugs agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas after arriving at Kelly Field in San Antonio following her release in a prisoner swap with Russia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.

WNBA star Brittney Griner (left), hugs agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas after arriving at Kelly Field in San Antonio following her release in a prisoner swap with Russia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022.U.S. Army South/Miguel Negron

Colas was in Washington, D.C., for a speaking engagement when she learned that Griner would finally be released in a prisoner exchange for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner was scheduled to return to U.S. soil two days later after the exchange in the United Arab Emirates. Colas was not going to miss her arrival, but first she had a commitment at home in Portland.

As a rule, she doesn’t stay away from her family for more than two days. And she had promised 6-year-old Drew that she would have lunch with him at school on Dec. 8.

“The 10-month ordeal had been full of sacrifices and a lot of that burden was carried by Andrew and the kids,” Colas said. “With BG safe it felt especially important to show up that day because I could.”

She was home for less than 24 hours, then boarded another plane to San Antonio, joining a military envoy that arrived at Joint Base San Antonio in the early hours of Dec. 9. Standing at the front of a military hangar, in front of a large American flag, Colas watched as the lights of a jet carrying Griner appeared high in the Texas twilight.

“The most emotional moment for me,” Colas said, “was when the plane landed and started taxiing toward us. And the idea that she was on that plane and had finally touched down. Because up until that moment, it’s not completely real.”

When Griner stepped off the plane, Colas recognized her distinctive gait. And as she watched the reunion between Griner and Cherelle, she saw her eyes sparkle with life.

“She was just back,” Colas said. “Like Brittney was back and Brittney was there.

“And that we had gotten her home in time.”

Bill Oram | boram@oregonian.com | Twitter: @billoram

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