UConn legend Maya Moore’s number retired by Minnesota Lynx

Add another honor to Moore’s length list of career accomplishments.

Maya Moore returned the Target Center on Saturday to see her No. 23 jersey enshrined in the rafters. The Minnesota Lynx retired her number a year and a half after Moore officially ended her basketball career.

The ceremony featured former teammates, friends, family and a video montage from some notable opponents — including Diana Taurasi. Moore also received a custom letter jacket and shoe box from Jordan Brand.

Prior to the game, the Lynx’s two UConn alums — Napheesa Collier and Dorka Juhász — along with a few other players arrived wearing Moore’s jersey. Collier has a particularly close connection to Moore: The two both grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri, both went to UConn and both are centerpieces of the Lynx organization.

“The impact of Maya Moore is that Napheesa Collier got to dream of one day being like Maya Moore,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said afterwards.

Moore played just eight seasons in the WNBA — all with Minnesota — but racked up plenty of awards and accolades in that limited time. She won four titles along with rookie of the year in 2011 and MVP in 2014. Moore was a six-time All-Star as well.

She also claimed two national championships at UConn in 2009 and 2010 in addition to two Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. Moore was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Following the 2018 campaign, Moore stepped away from basketball to focus on social justice. Specifically, she helped fight for the release of Jonathan Irons, a family friend who was wrongly imprisoned for over 20 years. His conviction was overturned in March of 2020 and he was released from prison that July.

Shortly afterwards, Moore married Irons and the two welcomed their first child in 2022. Even though she already announced her retirement in 2023, Moore re-affirmed that she won’t return to basketball on Saturday.

Next up? A retirement ceremony is Storrs. On the women’s side, UConn’s standard for jersey retirement is induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

It’s not all that clear as to when Moore will be eligible, though. She last played basketball in 2018, but didn’t officially retire until 2023. The hall of fame requires a player be “fully retired” for at least four seasons before becoming eligible for selection. That means Moore could be eligible now, or may have to wait until after the 2027 season.

Either way, it’s a matter of when, not if.