On Monday, American WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is spending her off-season playing for the Beijing Ducks in China’s professional women’s basketball league, was cut on the elbow in a knife attack while boarding the team bus in Shenyang.

Griner, the 6ft 8in WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and one of the top talents in the game, was walking to the team bus when a drunk man appeared with a knife. Suddenly the man started yelling and swinging his knife at Griner and her teammates and chased them onto the bus.

During the process, the knife caught Griner on the elbow and nicked her, but fortunately she was wearing two jackets and the knife didn’t pierce her skin. It was reported that the man voluntarily left the bus after the police came and was then arrested.

“I was thinking I was going to end up stabbed in China and if he got us at the back of the bus, I was going to have to fight this man,” Griner said in an email to her agent after the incident, according to ABC news.

It doesn’t appear that Griner and her teammates were targeted – it looks more like a random incident and the man was “clearly very drunk or mentally ill,” said Griner. The incident didn’t affect her game and she scored 19 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks that evening, helping the Beijing Ducks defeat Liaoning 51-42.

The incident is probably most remarkable in that most of you had no idea there was even a professional women’s basketball league in China – and that some of the best players in the US come here to play.

The Women’s Chinese Basketball Association was founded in 2001 and now features 12 teams. Like its male counterpart, it attracts talent from around the world. Griner is one of seven WNBA players currently playing in China, including current league MVP Maya Moore, who plays for the Shanxi team.

Griner is one of the hottest players in women’s basketball. She was selected by Phoenix Mercury as the first overall pick in the WNBA draft and led the league in blocked shots this season on her way to being named the Defensive Player of the Year. She’s not too shabby on offense, either with the second-highest field goal percentage (.578) of all players. She is one of the only three players who have ever made a dunk in a WNBA game.

The Beijing Ducks joined the league in 2001 and have won the title once, in 2012. They play at the same arena as the men’s team, Shougang Sports Center (shougang tiyuzhongxin). Tickets are cheap and can be purchased outside the stadium before home games start, so go check it out if you are interested in women’s basketball. To get to Shougang Center you can either take a taxi or go by subway, getting off at the Gucheng station on Line 1.

Check Griner out in action with the Beijing Ducks in November at Shougang (all games start at 7.30pm):

Saturday, Nov 8: Beijing vs. Henan
Saturday, Nov 15: Beijing vs. Shenbu
Tuesday, Nov 18: Beijing vs. Shenyang
Thursday, Nov 20: Beijing vs. Heilongjiang 
Tuesday, Nov 25: Beijing vs. Shanxi

The November 25 match should be interesting, with Griner playing for the Beijing team and WNBA overall MVP Moore playing for Shanxi.

Oh and by the way: despite the incident, Griner said she still feels safe in China.

Photos: Compete Sports, WNBA