MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Lynx announced Thursday they will retire the jersey of four-time WNBA champion Maya Moore, who cut short her playing career to help with her now-husband’s release in 2020 from a wrongful imprisonment.
The ceremony will take place Aug. 24 before a game against the Indiana Fever, who are expected to take Caitlin Clark with the first pick in the draft next month. Clark has long been a superfan of Moore, who surprised the Iowa star before the Hawkeyes played their final regular-season game and she set the career NCAA scoring record.
Moore (No. 23) will be the fifth player in Lynx history to have her jersey hung from the Target Center rafters, joining Lindsay Whalen (No. 13), Rebekkah Brunson (No. 32), Seimone Augustus (No. 33) and Sylvia Fowles (No. 34).
Over her eight-year WNBA career, all with the Lynx, Moore won the Rookie of the Year award in 2011 and the Most Valuable Player award in 2014 and was five times an All-WNBA first-team selection. She won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2012 and 2016.
Moore, who married Jonathan Irons in 2020 shortly after his release from a 22-year-old wrongful conviction in Missouri, last played in 2018.