UNCASVILLE, Conn. — It’s been over seven years since the last time Maya Moore laced up her signature shoes for a WNBA game.
At the time of the her retirement in 2023, the four-time WNBA champion had already been away from the game of basketball for over four years.
But as complicated as the history is behind Moore’s retirement, the ease with which she was able to do so is much easier to understand — simply put, there was nothing more for her to prove.
“I played so much basketball, I can’t be greedy,” Moore said Friday at her Hall of Fame press conference at Mohegan Sun. “I did everything I could have possibly done and then did it again… I just don’t have that thirst or desire, there’s nothing more.
“I’ve been been to the mountain top, right? And then we went to the mountain top again, so I have no regrets as far as what I was able to enjoy and experience as a player while I played.”
The former MVP will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, alongside fellow U.S. Olympic gold medalists, Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles.
FILE – Minnesota Lynx players Sylvia Fowles, left and Maya Moore held up all four WNBA championship trophies as the team arrives at Williams Arena for a celebration,Thursday night, Oct. 5, 2017, in Minneapolis. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)AP
Returning to Connecticut also marks a full-circle moment for Moore, with her illustrious record at UConn including two NCAA championships and over 3,000 career points, still the only Husky to ever cross that mark.
“I think now more than ever, I’m appreciative of what I was able to do with my body, with my life, because it was so hard, it was so focused and fragile,” Moore said. “But it’s a delicate place to be able to stay at that elite level the way we do.
“I’m glad I was able to accomplish that for those years, but I definitely have a different measuring stick of success now.”
Moore first stepped away from basketball in 2019 to prioritize advocating for criminal justice reform. She focused on securing the freedom of her now-husband, Jonathan Irons, who had been wrongfully convicted with a life sentence and had been serving for 22 years upon his release in 2020.
Maya Moore, left, and her husband, Jonathan Irons, answer questions and pose during an interview, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in New York. Moore has decided to retire officially from playing basketball. The Minnesota Lynx great stepped away from the WNBA in 2019 to help Irons win his release from prison by getting his 50-year sentence overturned in 2020. (AP Photo/David R. Martin)AP
Moore remained on the sidelines after Irons’ release, spending time with her new family and putting her energy into something beyond basketball.
“Our communities are in need of help in life and thriving,” Moore said. “Mind shifts, system shifts… the reason a UConn or the Lynx is the way it is, is because they have systems set in place to help everyone thrive.
“They have leaders in place who are actually competent to be leaders, who know how to actually connect to people and bring out the best in people and just the mindset of ‘everybody eats’. It’s not ‘you up here, you down there, I’m going to use you to get what I want’ — no. We’re going to do what we need to do for each other.”
From this 10,000-foot view, Moore points out that team sports like basketball are one of the last vestiges where she sees this concept still thrive today.
“That’s what I still love about sport, you still see that,” Moore said. “Ultimately, the teams like the (Oklahoma City Thunder) and the UConns and the teams that are winning, they just love each other. So I love that sports, especially team sports, are still able to show that.”
Moore highlighted how her career as an athlete prepared her for her journey as an advocate.
“I really do think stepping away from the game and the long haul of the justice system and how it’s not set up to bring justice quickly, it gave me the endurance to realize this is a season, we’re going to get through this,” Moore said. “There’s ups, there’s downs… Jonathan (Irons) lost 11 appeals. Not one , not two, 11 before the 12th one set him free.
“I don’t know where I would have been without that person who I had become through competitive, long, hard, grueling (and) grinding seasons, to be able to bring that same mindset to something that matters even more.”
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