On February 5, 2019, Maya Moore announced that she had decided to leave the WNBA for the 2019 season to shift her focus to “a family and ministry dream.”
At just 29 years old, the four-time WNBA champion and perennial WNBA All-Star was about to step out of the game in his absolute prime. In a conversation about the best women’s basketball player in the world, Maya Moore’s name was mentioned in the first sentence.
On January 23, 2020, Moore announced that he would not be returning to the WNBA in 2020. This is especially the case for her family friend Jonathan Irons as she continues to focus her time and effort on criminal justice reform. He has been imprisoned for the last 20 years.
Moore’s claims in the Irons case led to the dismissal of the charges in March 2020 and his release from prison in July 2020. Two months later, Moore and Irons announced they were married following his release. On Tuesday, the couple will release a memoir titled “Love and Justice: A Story of Victory in Two Different Courts,” telling their unique love story.
On the eve of that book’s publication, and on a day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his pursuit of justice and equality, Moore announced his retirement from the WNBA, embarking on one of the greatest basketball careers to date. I just finished a book about one..
What Maya Moore has accomplished in eight seasons in the WNBA matches what other players in the league have achieved. Here are just a few of her many accolades.
- 4-time WNBA Champion (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)
- WNBA Finals MVP (2013)
- WNBA MVP (2014)
- WNBA Rookie of the Year (2011)
- 6-time WNBA All-Star (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
- 3-time WNBA All-Star Game MVP (2015, 2017, 2018)
- 7 All-WNBA selections (First Team: 2013, 2014. 2015, 2016, 2017; Second Team: 2012, 2018)
- All-defensive selection twice (2nd army: 2014, 2017)
- Top Scorer (2014)
- Stealing Leader (2018)
- Members of the Top 20@20 (2016) and W25 (2021) Anniversary Teams
And those are her accomplishments in the WNBA. Her two Olympic gold medals (2012, 2016) and two World Championships (2010, 2014) for Team USA, two NCAA Championships (2009, 2010) for her in Connecticut Let’s not forget the two Euroleague Championships (2012 Los Casares Valencia). .
No word is more synonymous with Maya Moore than the word “champion.” Everywhere she played, she led her team to championships. It began during her high school years, when she led Collins Hill High School to her 125-3 record in her four seasons, and in 2007 she had three Georgia state titles and she won one national title. won the title. She won two national titles and became the only player to win the College Wade Trophy, which honors her top women’s basketball players.
When it came time to join the WNBA, Moore found the perfect home to continue his winning ways. In 2010, the Minnesota Lynx finished with her 13-21 record, while the Los Angeles Western missed out on her conference final playoff berth due to a tiebreaker with her Sparks. That means the Lynx are headed for the draft lottery, where their fortunes will turn around dramatically.
The Lynx won the lottery, taking Moore with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft and adding talented forwards to a roster that includes veterans Lindsay Warren, Seymone Augustus, Rebecca Branson and Taj McWilliams Franklin. . This was not the situation for a top draft pick joining a team in need of a savior. This was the situation that allowed Moore to pursue a deep playoff run and play alongside the All-Stars.
Less than six months after hearing that his name was called No. 1 overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft and won the Lynx jersey, Moore won the Atlanta Dream in the 2011 WNBA Finals. three games and helped lead the Lynx to their first-ever WNBA championship. .
Game 1 of that series gave us one of Maya Moore’s top highlights. This shot is played when he is finally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.She crossed the lane, a difficult reverse Plunged under the basket for her layup It brought back Memories of Dr.J From the 1980 NBA Finals.
This was just the beginning of a Minnesota dynasty, as the Lynx appeared in six WNBA Finals and won four WNBA titles over a seven-year period from 2011-2017. Moore was named Finals MVP in 2013. Moore averaged 20 points on her 54% shooting percentage, and Lynx trailed her dream in 93 minutes on the court in the series, he surpassed her dream by 66 points in three games.
Two years later, Moore had the biggest clutch moment of his WNBA career in Game 3 of the 2015 WNBA Finals against Indiana. With the game tied at 77 with 1.7 seconds remaining, Whalen inbounded the ball to Moore just outside the 3-point line. As Fever defender Marissa Coleman charged at her, Moore kept her cool, performed a quick ball fake around her Coleman and stood up for her shot. She took the shot, giving the Lynx her lead in the series, 2–1, and Minnesota went on to win the series in her five games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We6Rj_aNEdA
After a disastrous loss to the Los Angeles Sparks in Winners Take Game 5 of the 2016 WNBA Finals, the Lynx avenged that loss a year later in a rematch with the Sparks in the 2017 WNBA Finals. Again, the series saw him in all five games, and Moore threw his knockout hit late in the fourth quarter.
With Minnesota clinging to a 79-76 lead with 30 seconds remaining, Moore drove into the lane and pulled up to the free-throw line with a net-shaking running jump shot with 26 seconds remaining to put the Lynx up by five points. She finished the game with a team-high 18 points, 10 rebounds, and her fourth WNBA championship in her first seven seasons.
A year later, the Lynx and Sparks met again in the playoffs, this time in the first round of single-elimination, with Los Angeles ending the season with a 75-68 victory over Minnesota and finally Maya Moore’s WNBA finale. Became a career. She finished that game with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
At the time, no one expected this to be the last time we’d see Maya Moore in the WNBA. Although her career was short, she packed many memorable moments into its eight seasons for WNBA fans to remember for years to come.
Of course, after her competitive career ended, she became a social justice advocate, wife, mother, and now a writer. Maya has officially ended her playing career and is carrying on her title of Legend in the WNBA.
Longtime WNBA reporter Brian Martin writes for WNBA.com throughout the season. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect those of the WNBA or its clubs.