Who is more valuable to America? A Marine risking his life to serve our country or a WNBA player who hates it? One would think that it would be the Marine, but evidently Joe Biden thinks otherwise.

Back in February, WNBA player, Brittney Griner, was detained in Russia after facing charges of drug smuggling in an airport near Moscow. She testified that she had “inadvertently packed the cannabis oil found in her luggage.” Despite her efforts, she was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison in early August and, after losing her appeal, was moved to a penal colony in the Mordovia republic in mid-November.

She was in Russia playing for a Russian women's basketball team during her offseason.

During these months of detainment, President Biden underwent negotiations for her release. A deal was struck between the two countries to do a prisoner swap between the two nations—Griner in exchange for a Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death.” Bout was serving a 25 year sentence in an American prison for conspiring to sell weapons to terrorists looking to target America.

However, one person was left out of this deal: former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was originally part of the prisoner swap deal, but was omitted at the last minute.

Whelan was arrested in Russia in 2018 and was given a 16-year prison sentence in 2020 for suspicion of espionage, which he and the US government have denied. According to CNN, Whelan confessed that he is “greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four year anniversary of my arrest is coming up."

Let me put this out there: why in the world are we trading a Russian arms dealer for a women’s basketball player that is openly disdainful towards America rather than a man who risked his life serving our country?

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t wish any harm on Griner.

We should be fighting to free every American held in foreign prisons, but why was she given priority over a former Marine?

There are some suggestions to explain why one was favored over the other, including that the Russians are treating their situations completely differently and, according to a senior official in the Biden Administration, have “rejected each and every one of our proposals for [Whelan’s] release.” Another being concerns raised by some advocates about her fate in Russia given that she is a black, lesbian woman.

Our country used to favor and hold a particular reverence towards those who serve our country, but it seems like that respect dwindles more and more every year. We’ve gotten to the point where a basketball player gets more respect than a Marine.

I say we go back to respecting those who risk their lives to protect our country, and in turn they deserve the same protection from us when they need it.

It’s time to free Paul Whelan.