Maya Moore was three when she took to basketball; thanks to all the energy she had as a kid. Her mother, Kathryn Moore, would place a hoop on the backdoor of their apartment to get little Maya to channel her energy. “I never thought she would slam-dunk that little ball through that hoop for hours,” she admitted. Well, Maya did, and then some. So here we are.

Read on to delve deeper into the nearly perfect playing career and shattering retirement of Maya Moore, who will soon become the fifth player in Lynx history to have her number retired.

Moore built on her mother’s support

Maya Moore’s father, Mike Dabney, was a part of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team during his collegiate career. In fact, he was even selected as the 36th overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1976 NBA Draft, though he never played in the NBA. However, he never much remained a part of Moore’s life growing up. It was her mother instead, who took on every responsibility to bring her up.

“We’ve been through a lot of things that brought us closer. So it’s kind of like that unspoken bond that you know you have with that person that I have with my mother,” Moore said. Thanks to her mother’s unwavering support, she started playing basketball at a young age, pouring endless hours into nurturing her game.

From averaging 23.2 points and 11.3 rebounds during her junior year of high school, the now Minnesota Lynx star went on to improve the numbers – 25.2 points and 12.1 rebounds – by her senior year. In 2006, she even led the Collins Hill Eagles to a 75-61 victory, earning her first Most Valuable Player award. Well, this was just the beginning.

From here, Moore seemed unstoppable. She initiated her collegiate career with the Huskies and concluded it with 154 games. Interestingly, she only lost four of them and became the first Husky ever to score 3,036 points. That wasn’t all of course. She’s also the only player in Division I history to score 2,500 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

A standout at UConn, Moore was highly sought after in the WNBA Draft.

An exceptional WNBA career for Maya Moore

“It was a dream come true for me to play basketball at the highest level and help build the foundation for women’s basketball,” Maya Moore says. After being picked up by the Minnesota Lynx as the first overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft, she became the first female basketball player to sign a contract with the Jordan brand.

In just three years, she had reached three WNBA Finals, two WCBA Finals, and a EuroBasket Final. By doing so, she solidified her status as one of the best professional women’s players in the league. In 2015, she earned her first WNBA All-Star MVP and became the only player after Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker to win MVPs for the regular season, the All-Star Game, and the WNBA Finals.

Even after all of it, Moore wasn’t quite done with her showcase just yet. A 18-point game in 2018 All-Star led her to her third All-Star MVP. By this time, the Lynx icon had already set her priorities.

The following season, Moore announced that she would miss the regular season to focus on her family and ministry dreams. This break extended to 2020 due to her advocacy for criminal justice reform. Just like that, she spent four seasons away from the league. “I walked away four seasons ago, but I officially wanted to retire.” Now, you might be wondering why.

Finally, it’s time to bid adieu…

For Moore, the four years she spent away from the WNBA were incredibly important as she was fighting for love. During this time, she was helping her now-husband Jonathan Irons with his release from a 50-year prison sentence. Irons had been imprisoned for the non-fatal shooting of Stanley Stotler despite a lack of evidence.

Moore succeeded in her efforts, and Irons was released. “I am extremely thankful for the opportunities that the WNBA, the Minnesota Lynx, and basketball have given me in my lifetime,” Moore said. On January 16, 2023, she finally made it official and bid adieu to her impressive eight years in the WNBA.

It was the right decision, even if it came a bit early. For Moore, social justice activism became more important than continuing her WNBA legacy. Currently, Moore is living her dreams. She’s advocating for better pay for WNBA players while working with a prison ministry. It has been over a year since her official retirement, and now it’s time for her jersey (No. 23) to be retired.

The honor will be bestowed during a Lynx game against the Indiana Fever at Target Center. “I am so excited to be able to come back to connect, celebrate, and remember so many of the special memories I was able to be a part of with this Lynx family,” shared Moore, who will come back to be part of this honor.

Her journey was short, crisp, and her retirement, a standout. What else would you expect from a legend?