Maya Moore is easily one of the greatest athletes of our time. In eight years of WNBA basketball, Moore has won four championships, one MVP trophy, another Finals MVP trophy and been named an All-Star six times. She transformed the Minnesota Lynx into a yearly contender.
That’s GOAT level stuff. It all pales in comparison to what she’s doing off of the court.
Moore will skip her second WNBA season in a row this summer to focus on criminal justice reform, the New York Times reports. Specifically, on the case of Jonathan Irons — a man who she believes was wrongfully convicted at age 16. He’s 39 year old now.
Irons is in the middle of service a 50-year prison sentence after being convicted of burglary and assaulting a homeowner with a gun in St. Louis. The homeowner was shot during the assault and testified that Irons was the perpetrator, but there was no evidence linking Irons to the crime.
Moore has been talking about this case since she met Irons in 2017. She took a year off from the game last year to minister in Atlanta and is doing the same this year.
This is unprecedented. We’re not talking about this enough. This is Michael Jordan going into his first retirement, except for instead of sucking at baseball, Moore is being a boss in criminal justice.
She’s 30 years old. We have no idea how much basketball she actually has left in her where she’s playing at a high level. We also have no idea when she’s returning. But this is very clearly bigger than just basketball to her.
This is an opportunity for her to pull someone up and out of a trap that so many people fall into because of no fault of their own. They have no lifelines and no help. Moore is trying to be that for someone who truly needs it.
Over the last few years, athletes have found themselves pursuing the passions they have outside of their sport more and more. A lot have done some real good with that newfound power. Add Moore to that ever-growing list.
Moore isn’t retiring from the game just yet, but this is probably the closest thing to it. We might not ever see her play again. And if she comes back, there’s no guarantee she’ll be as good.
It’s a massive sacrifice that she is choosing to make, but it’s also one that could make a massive difference in somebody’s world — bigger than any difference she could ever make on a basketball court.
If she never players a single minute of WNBA basketball again, it’ll all be worth it.
