Brittney Griner is making the upcoming WNBA season her coming out party in more ways than one.

After being selected as the No. 1 overall draft pick by the Phoenix Mercury, the former college basketball star announced that she is a lesbian. Griner said her sexuality and towering 6'8" frame resulted in being teased mercilessly growing up.

"It was hard. Just being picked on for being different. Just being bigger, my sexuality, everything," she said in a press conference with the top three draft picks for this season. "I overcame it and got over it. Definitely something that I am very passionate about. I want to work with kids and bring recognition to the problem, especially with the LGBT community."

Fellow top draft pick Skylar Diggins said that Griner was a class act for how she has handled the recent criticism about her size and overall appearance.

"I don't think anyone has handled it better than Brittney," said Diggins. "It's great to see how she handles herself in this situation. People are cruel. She handles every situation with such class and it's inspiring and she's taught me some things about when people say bad things. She's a poster child for how to handle criticism."

Diggins recently completed her college career at Baylor University, where she established herself as the top women's basketball player in the NCAA.  She recorded 736 blocked shots throughout her NCAA basketball career, more than any other man or woman in history. In her junior year, she blocked more shots individually than any other women's team. Diggins also helped the women's basketball team at Baylor to the 2012 NCAA championship.

Griner said she plans to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics in a proposed 3-on-3 basketball event. The competition still needs to be approved by the IOC Executive Board on August 9.

"Think about how much attention it would draw. It would be such a great honor," she said.  "We would win. We would definitely win."