Maya Moore has officially retired from the WNBA after an eight-year career. The former Minnesota Lynx star and 33-year-old hasn’t played a game since the 2018 WNBA season.
Moore made an appearance on the noon slot for ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Monday to make an official announcement.
“I always tried to bring energy, light, joy and intensity to what I was doing. I hope people saw me as someone who gave all she had at whatever she was doing,” stated Moore. “Whatever play it was or whatever moment it was, I tried to give it my all. I couldn’t have written a story like this. It has definitely been unexpected, but it was really thoughtful, planned and prepared.
It’s official! So thankful to so many🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/h9tACx3SKm
— Maya Moore (@MooreMaya) January 17, 2023
How Great Is WNBA Player Maya Moore?
Moore is a Missouri native, but she played her high school basketball at Collins Hill High School in the Atlanta suburb of Suwanee. She then took her talents to UConn and continued her greatness.
While at UConn, Moore was apart of a 90-game win streak that resulted in two consecutive undefeated seasons (’08-’09, ’09-’10) and two national championships. She also won three consecutive Wade Trophy awards as the national player of the year and ended with 150-4 record in college.
Moore was drafted as the top overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx and continued her basketball legacy. She was a four-time WNBA Champion, 2011 WNBA rookie of the year, 2014 WNBA MVP, two-time Olympic gold medalist, 2013 WNBA Finals MVP, and two-time FIBA world champion.
She finished her career averaging 18.4 points per game. 5.9 rebounds per game and was a six-time WNBA All-Star. She set the Lynx single-season scoring record in 2014 with 812 points scored total.
Why Is Maya Moore Retiring?
In the prime of Moore’s career after the 2018 season, she left the game behind to help longtime family friend Jonathan Irons overturn a 50-year prison sentence in Missouri. Irons sentence was overturned in 2020 and the two then got married. Moore and Irons also had a son last summer.
The Shadow League’s Most Influential People of 2020 — Maya Moore
Since then, Moore has used her voice to advocate for prison reform and prosecutorial changes in the legal system. She is also an evangelical Christian who has spent much of the last few years ministering in Atlanta and connecting with her church and family.
In addition to the retirement news, Moore also made a statement on Twitter a week earlier in regard to her and her husband’s new book “Love and Justice: A Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts.” The book will be available on Jan. 17.
Legends React To Maya Moore’s Shocking Retirement
Moore received a ton of support from the NBA and WNBA community from players such as Kevin Garnett, Lexie Brown, Swin Cash, Pau Gasol, etc.
“Man shootout to @Mayamoore on a hell of a career, you will be missed LEGEND!” stated Garnett on Twitter.
Game recognizes game 🫶
Gotta give Maya Moore her flowers, one of the best to play this game 🏀 pic.twitter.com/NozEFQc7Vp
— WNBA (@WNBA) January 16, 2023
“So proud of you @Mayamoore keep letting your light shine in this world. Greater is he that is in me sis. You and Jonathan keep inspiring!” stated Cash on Twitter.
Moore also shared some of her finest moments in her career from college and WNBA. The one that stood out the most to fans was one she shared about the summer before her sophomore season at UConn. That is right before the team went on an historic run to go undefeated in back-to-back seasons.
“Its hard to pick just one, but it was honestly the preseason before my sophomore year. It was Renee’s [Renee Montgomery] senior year, we had just lost in the Final Four the year before,” said Moore. “In those five weeks we trained our butts off and our team chemistry just shot through the roof. We were all so focused and unified.”
No Retirement Tour For Moore?
Moore is one of the greatest players to ever grace the most prestigious women’s pro league in all of pro sports. She’s one of the prolific champions and international ambassadors of the sport’s rise. Hopefully, she will get a chance to do a retirement tour at some point, because a player of her caliber and her contributions to the game of hoops and human rights in general, deserves the proper recognition.
