“Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Elena Della Donne. There are a lot of great players who could compete with the NBA stars. ” The sentence was signed Kobe Bryant at the end of January and summarizes the aura of Maya Moore on the other side of the Atlantic.
If In France, his name does not tell us much, except perhaps to the initiated, Moore is a star in the United States. Four times winner of the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017), and twice titled in Euroleague (2012 and 2018) with Valencia then Yekaterinburg in particular, to which we must add two world titles (2010 and 2014 ) and two Olympic titles (2012 and 2016), Moore's record is impressive.
So seeing her put her WNBA career on hold at 29, at a time when she seemed to be at her best, is in itself news. But the fact that she is taking advantage of this temporary stop to lend a hand to a man whom she considers to be unjustly imprisoned is even stronger.
A fight that goes back several years
In February 2019, Moore took two sabbaticals, to "rejuvenate with (his) people," she said, but also to fight alongside Jonathan Irons, for justice. Already hired by basketball player Jerry Stackhouse to raise awareness of the inequities of the justice system, Moore said in July 2018: “My perception of prison has changed. I thought if someone was there, they deserved it, but there are many other factors, and it's not that simple. "
Since February, she has been fighting alongside Jonathan Irons, an African American sentenced to 50 years in prison for burglary and assault, despite the absence of a fingerprint, DNA evidence or even a witness. Moore has been interested in the case since 2016, as she explained to the Los Angeles Times , but it is the action of Colin Kaepernick (the American footballer committed against police violence against African-Americans) which l finally decided to take action. “There is no doubt that Colin partly decided some athletes to use their voices, and I drew my courage from him. When he said "change starts with us", it gave me the courage to make my voice heard. "
His engagement begins to pay off since in March, Irons was declared innocent due to a lack of evidence, before Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt appealed the decision.
On the other hand, there is no question of talking about retirement for Maya Moore, 31 years old on June 11, who intends to come back to the prosecution, perhaps once the case is over.
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