Brittney Griner's 3 Siblings: All About DeCarlo, SheKera and Pier

Brittney Griner's brother and sisters have encouraged her in different phases of life

Brittney Griner can always count on her three siblings — DeCarlo, SheKera and Pier — to be there for her no matter what.

Brittney is the youngest child born to parents Raymond and Sandra Griner, who share a daughter, Pier, while Raymond is also a dad to son DeCarlo and daughter SheKera.

The family, along with Brittney’s wife Cherelle, advocated for the WNBA star throughout her 10-month detainment in Russia on charges of smuggling drugs.

In June 2022, SheKera made an emotional plea to the Biden administration to do "whatever necessary” to bring Brittney home "safely and quickly" after spending over 100 days in prison. “It's been totally gut-wrenching for myself and my family — her mom and dad, my siblings, myself," SheKera said.

Related: All About Brittney Griner's Parents, Raymond and Sandra Griner

Brittney’s older sister also hoped to paint a more humanized version of the athlete by acknowledging how most of the world saw her as a professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist, but to her family, Brittney “is a daughter, she is a sister, she is an aunt, she is a cousin, she's a niece, she is a wife.”

When she was finally released in December 2022, her family released a statement thanking supporters and asking for privacy as they "embark on this road to healing.”

Here’s everything to know about Brittney Griner’s siblings — DeCarlo, SheKera and Pier — and their relationship with their athlete sister.

Brittney has three older siblings

When Brittney was born to her parents, dad Raymond and mom Sandra, they already had a full house with three kids.

Her older siblings are brother DeCarlo, who is 17 years older than her, and sisters SheKera and Pier, who are 10 and 5 years older than Brittney, respectively.

Brittney’s siblings live much quieter lives than their younger sister and have private social media profiles, but the WNBA star gave some insight into their relationships in her 2014 memoir In My Skin: My Life On and Off the Basketball Court.

While DeCarlo and SheKera are her half-siblings from her dad’s previous marriage and considerably older than her, Brittney wrote that they grew up close and shared a strong bond even though they didn’t always spend time together.

“They have always been great to me, and we consider each other full blood, but it’s not like we were all running around the yard, playing games, living under the same roof,” she explained.

Brittney and Pier were opposites growing up

In her first memoir, Brittney talks about her relationship with her sister, Pier, and how they had different hobbies and personalities while being raised in the Houston area.

“Pier was a total girly girl, and I was all rough-and-tumble," the professional basketball player wrote in In My Skin.

She also described how Pier enjoyed watching popular shows like Saved by the Bell and playing with dolls at home. Meanwhile, the future Olympian liked being "outside wrestling with the dog in the mud.”

Brittney used to pull pranks on her siblings

As her closest sibling in age, Pier was often on the receiving end of Brittney’s childhood pranks, many inspired by real-life military tactics that she became obsessed with as a kid, according to a 2008 ESPN profile.

For one of the pranks, Brittney balanced cups of water on her bedroom door before calling Pier. She also rigged traps in the backyard that shot small objects out of trees when triggered.

According to their dad, Raymond, his military career in the U.S. Navy inspired Brittney, and she considered joining the Air Force one day. That was until she found her true passion, telling Baylor Bear Insider in 2021 that basketball was her "calling."

DeCarlo and SheKera were among the first to see Brittney after her release

In her 2024 book Coming Home, Brittney describes the days after she was freed and the heartfelt reunions with her wife Cherelle and family members, including DeCarlo, SheKera and their dad Raymond.

On Brittney’s second morning home, DeCarlo and Raymond visited her at the San Antonio base, where she was receiving medical and psychological evaluation and treatment.

The athlete remembered everyone “hugging hard while fighting tears,” but also her sadness at seeing the physical stress her detainment had taken on her father.

SheKera brought her daughter Niyah to visit Brittney days later, one of a few family visits that she recalled causing “fresh tears” every day while she lived with her wife in a private residence on base.

The athlete also reconnected with her sister Pier and mom Sandra over video calls since they were recovering from COVID-19 at the time, she recounted.

Related: Brittney Griner and Cherelle Griner's Relationship Timeline

DeCarlo booked a one-way ticket to be there for Brittney

After her return, Brittney said she would never play overseas again unless she was representing the U.S. in the Olympics, and she kept her word when her first break came at the end of the 2023 WNBA season.

The athlete wrote in Coming Home about her fear of falling back into depression during her first off-season in a decade and her joy when DeCarlo flew out to Houston “just to hang.”

“He hadn’t even booked a return flight: he just wanted to be near me for as long as I needed,” Brittney shared. “I loved having him close ... His presence was a safety net, a buffer against depression.”

DeCarlo ended up staying with Brittney and her wife for a week, “but his healing presence lingered,” the basketball star explained.

Brittney's siblings have supported her in different ways

Brittney faced relentless bullying as a child for her sexuality, even before she understood it herself.

Still, after coming to terms with her identity, she slowly started coming out to her family in high school — and got an encouraging response from her older brother.

"It ain't no thang," DeCarlo reportedly joked, according to a 2013 ESPN profile.

Her mom, Sandra, and her sisters, SheKera and Pier, were also supportive, but she faced rejection from her dad at first and eventually moved out of the family home her senior year of high school to escape his strict rules.

Their relationship mended through the years, and Raymond has since fully embraced his youngest daughter.

"Brittney wants people to accept her for who she is," he told ESPN. "I get that now."

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