WNBA star Brittney Griner convicted in Russia, sentenced to nine years in prison from Larry Brown Sports, with Steve DelVecchio, and from www.yardbarker.com The United States government is in the process of working on a deal to bring Brittney Griner home, but the WNBA star has been sentenced in the meantime. Griner was convicted on Thursday and sentenced to nine years in prison. Prosecutors were seeking a 9.5-year prison sentence on the drug charges. As ESPN’s TJ Quinn notes, the sentence is essentially a formality. Griner will only be detained for as long as it takes the U.S. to reach…