Maya Moore, decorated player in women's basketball, steps away

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Maya Moore, a legendary player in women's basketball, announced her retirement at the age of 33 on Monday.

"I think it's time to put a close to the pro basketball life," Moore said in a TV appearance, "I walked away four seasons ago, but I wanted to officially retire. This is such a sweet time for us and our family. The work we've done, I want to continue that in this next chapter."

Playing as a small forward, Moore is one of the most decorated careers in women's basketball history, as his career includes NCAA, WNBA and Olympic titles.

Moore, who has two NCAA titles in 2009, and 2010 with UConn Huskies, bagged four WNBA titles (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) with Minnesota Lynx.

The 2013 WNBA Finals MVP and a six-time WNBA All-Star averaged 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 271 regular-season games, and 19.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 3.2 APG in 56 playoff games with Lynx.

She won two EuroLeague Women's titles, in 2012 with Spanish club Ros Casares and in 2018 with Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg.

Her national career is also decorated as she has two consecutive FIBA Women's Basketball World Cups with the US in 2010 Czech Republic and 2014 Türkiye.

She also clinched two Olympic golds in women's basketball in 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro.

Moore took a hiatus from her WNBA career from 2019 to 2023 to focus on reform in the American justice system. She pressed for the release of Jonathan Irons, who was serving a 50-year sentence begun when he was 16 years old, from the Jefferson City correctional center. He was released on July 1, 2020.

The duo got married and had a son named Jonathan Irons Jr.