Minnesota Lynx retire former star Maya Moore’s jersey in emotional ceremony after win over Caitlin Clark, Fever

Maya Moore’s number is finally hanging in the Target Center.

The Minnesota Lynx officially retired the six-time WNBA All-Star’s jersey number on Saturday night after their 90-80 win over the Indiana Fever in Minneapolis. Moore led the Lynx on four different championship runs during her eight seasons in the league.

Moore was honored during an emotional ceremony after the game, where she was gifted a special Jordan brand jacket and gold shoes referencing her many accomplishments throughout her career.

Moore is now the fifth player in Lynx history to have her jersey number retired. She joins Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles.

Several of her former teammates were in attendance for the ceremony, too, including Fowles and Brunson.

The Lynx selected Moore with the No. 1 overall pick in 2011 out of UConn, and she won Rookie of the Year honors during her first campaign while winning a title with the Lynx. They made it to the WNBA Finals five more times in the next six seasons while winning three more championships in one of the best stretches for a franchise in WNBA history.

Moore was the league’s MVP in the 2014 season, too, where she averaged a career-high 23.9 points and 8.1 rebounds. She finished her career averaging 18.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game after she retired following the 2018 season. Moore also won a pair of gold medals with the Team USA women’s team in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

Moore is still the Lynx’s franchise leader in steals (449) and 3-point field goals made (530). She’s also the all-time leading scorer in WNBA Finals history with 441 points.

Moore announced that she was going to sit out the 2019 season to focus on both her family and her non-profit, “Win With Justice.” She dedicated herself to freeing Jonathan Irons from prison, which she eventually did in 2020. Irons was wrongfully convicted when he was 16 years old, and he spent 23 years in prison in Missouri. Moore and Irons then got married, and they had their first child in 2022. She officially retired from the WNBA last year.

Coincidence or not, the Lynx opted to retire Moore’s jersey on the night that Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were in town. Clark, who has helped launch a massive new wave of interest in women’s basketball as a whole in recent years, was surprised by Moore during ESPN’s “College GameDay” when she was playing at Iowa in what was an emotional moment for the former Hawkeyes star.

Clark warmed up in a Moore shirt before the game, too. Moore, who Clark first met at a basketball camp when she was a child, was asked about that initial interaction — which she admitted she didn’t remember.

The Lynx led nearly the entire way on Saturday night to pick up the 10-point win, which officially clinched a playoff spot for them. Napheesa Collier led the way with 31 points after shooting 12-of-18 from the field. Clark finished with 23 points and eight assists for the Fever.