UNCASVILLE, CT – AUGUST 17: Maya Moore #23 of the Minnesota Linx during the game against the Connecticut Sun on August 17, 2018 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matteo Marchi/Getty Images)
Maya Moore did not play for the Minnesota Lynx last season, and she will sit out a second straight WNBA season this year.
Maya Moore sat out the 2019 WNBA season for the Minnesota Lynx, and her plans for the 2020 season had been unclear until Wednesday. But according to the New York Times (subscription required), she will sit out a second straight WNBA season and has taken herself out of consideration for the OIympics this summer.
The details of Moore’s decision to sit out again are surprising. She is taking up the cause of an imprisoned Missouri man she thinks is innocent. Jonathan Irons, 39, is serving a 50-year prison sentence on a conviction of burglary and assault of a man in his home with a weapon. Moore first met Irons in 2017 when she visited him at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. At the time of the incident, Irons was 16 years old.
In that phone interview with the Times, Moore said she is not retired despite the decision to sit a second straight WNBA season.
“I don’t feel like this is the right time for me to retire,” she told the Times. “Retirement is something that is a big deal and there is a right way to do it well, and this is not the time for me.”
But at the same time, Moore did acknowledge that basketball is on the back burner for her.
“Basketball has not been foremost in my mind,” she said. “I’ve been able to rest, and connect with people around me, actually be in their presence after all of these years on the road. And I’ve been able to be there for Jonathan.”
The Lynx made the playoffs without Moore last year, with an 18-16 regular season record to earn the No. 7 seed before a first-round series loss to the Seattle Storm. There’s no replacing a key cog in four WNBA title runs though, and whether Moore ever plays again, she is the most decorated women’s basketball player we’ve ever seen.