MINNEAPOLIS — There was plenty of buzz surrounding Maya Moore when she was selected No. 1 overall in the 2011 WNBA Draft.
Coming off her third straight Wade Trophy, which is given to the best women's college basketball player, the Minnesota Lynx selected the UConn star hoping she could flourish playing alongside players like Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen. Well, she did a little more than just flourish.
In her first season, Moore helped lead the Lynx, not only to the playoffs — which Minnesota hadn't reached since 2004 — but to their first WNBA championship. It was the first of four championships over a seven-year span for Minnesota, making the Lynx one of the most dominant franchises in that span.
Her prowess on the court made her one of the most popular athletes, not only in the WNBA but in all of sports. In 2018 she was featured on an iconic billboard in downtown Minneapolis, and on Aug. 24, she will be honored with her jersey being retired at Target Center.
The Lynx announced their intentions to retire the number in a press release Monday announcing a new five-game flex ticket package being offered this season. The ceremony will be when the Indiana Fever are in town, the team that is almost certain to select Iowa star Caitlin Clark with the first pick in April's WNBA Draft. Clark grew up watching Moore and was recently surprised by the 2014 WNBA MVP prior to breaking the Division I scoring record.
Next month, Moore will also be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Moore was the first female basketball player to sign with Nike's Air Jordan brand. She was a six-time All-Star, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and was an All-WNBA First Team selection five times in just eight seasons. She was the 2013 WNBA Finals MVP before earning the league MVP in 2014. She stepped away from the game in 2019 to focus on family and criminal justice reform.
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