On the night Lynx retire Maya Moore Irons' jersey, Minnesota clinches playoff berth
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Maya Moore Irons already had several banners hung up in Target Center — banners from four WNBA championships she led the Minnesota Lynx to in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Saturday night, the Lynx added one more to those rafters — 23 — her jersey number.
Moore Irons was celebrated by the franchise as the team beat the Indiana Fever 90-80 and clinched a playoff berth.
The team handed out black Maya Moore T-shirts to every fan and, after the game, there was an hour-long celebration of her basketball career.
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Before the game, she spoke about how she hopes fans will remember her.
"Using my voice and my platform to shine a light on people that might not have a light on them,” she said. “But I also worked my tail off, right? I feel like I tried to leave it all out there, and role model what it looks like to just grind every day, but do it with joy."
After four championships, winning the WNBA 2014 MVP, 2013 Finals MVP and the 2011 Rookie of the Year, Moore Irons decided she needed to focus on something else.
Moore Irons left the Lynx and WNBA in 2019 to pursue advocacy in the criminal justice system. She worked to free Jonathan Irons — who had been held in prison for more than two decades for a crime he did not commit. He was released in 2020, and they married shortly after. The couple have kept working on criminal justice reform.
Jonathan Irons sat next to her during a post game ceremony Saturday, as her teammates from those WNBA Championship Lynx teams told stories about Moore Irons, about her legacy, about her personality and her competitiveness.
Seimone Augustus spoke about how Moore Irons brought so much passion and energy to the team.
“I want to say thank you, Maya, because you helped all of us elevate our games to another level, and we reached new heights that we probably didn't even think we would achieve by winning four championships and doing so many awesome things together. So I thank you,” Augustus said. “It's beautiful because now we see you as a mother, as a wife, and it's the most beautiful evolution of a person that I've ever seen. And I'm thankful to have been a part of your life.”
Moore Irons thanked the team and her fans after the ceremony.
“I'm just extraordinarily grateful… I'm just so happy to take this time to remember this and to feel — I feel appreciated. I feel so seen and appreciated,” she said. “So thank you, because a lot of times we're moving so fast through life, we don't take time to really show each other love and appreciation. So let this night inspire you to continue to go beyond the Target Center and show your people love and appreciation that will make me happy if you go do that.”
It was fitting on the night Moore Irons, who won at every level of basketball she played, that the Lynx won.
Napheesa Collier, who grew up in the same Missouri town where Moore Irons did, scored 31 points, and Kayla McBride scored eight of her 19 points in the fourth quarter to help the Minnesota Lynx clinch a playoff berth with a 90-80 win over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Saturday night.
Minnesota (22-8), which beat the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces 87-74 on Friday, has won six games in a row, including five straight by double figures since returning from the Olympic break.
Clark, the No. 1 pick in the draft, led Indiana (13-16) with 23 points and eight assists and became the fastest player in league history (29 games) to score at least 500 points (520) and record 200 assists (240).
Clark, who grew up idolizing Moore Irons, said she was so happy to be able to play at Target Center on the night of Moore Irons’ jersey retirement.
“Just the passion and the joy that you could always see her play with, like she always had a smile, she was competitive, she was fiery, but she was just a solid basketball player,” Clark said. “And then obviously, a solid individual. You didn't even have to know her on a personal level to be able to understand that, and I think that's the main reason why I loved her so much.”
The same goes for the Lynx fan base, who cheered “Maya, Maya, Maya!” one last time as Moore Irons took the floor Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.