WNBA Legend Maya Moore Reveals Her Favorite Olympic Experience

Two Minnesota Lynx legends will reach the highest plane of basketball immortality on Saturday, as franchise greats Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles will each be officially inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Moore, widely regarded as the greatest winner in women’s basketball history, helped lead the Lynx to four championships (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) during her eight-year professional career, in addition to winning the 2014 league MVP award. While at UConn from 2007 to 2011, Moore was a two-time national champion and two-time consensus National Player of the Year award winner.

Fowles joined the Lynx in 2015 and was a vital member of their championship teams both that season and in 2017. Fowles was the league MVP in 2017 and earned Finals MVP honors in both appearances she made with the Lynx. In addition, Fowles won four Defensive Player of the Year awards and was voted first-team All-WNBA three times.

One particular memory of Moore and Fowles’ run that has been etched into the minds of women’s basketball fans forever is their performances for the Lynx-laden 2016 Olympic team, which also featured Minnesota legends Lindsey Whalen and Seimone Augustus. In addition, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was one of Geno Auriemma’s assistants that summer.

Ahead of their Hall of Fame induction on Saturday, Moore revealed that the 2016 Olympic team was her favorite team with which she played during her international basketball career.

“I mean, the first team in London was special just playing with some legends, Moore said. “But the 2016 team, we had four of us from the Lynx and so that was really special to play with Lindsay and Seimone and Syl. That was just a special year.”

While Moore was somewhat reluctant to choose between the two, her glowing description of her experience in 2016 makes it clear that it was among the most cherished moments of her basketball career. Moore retired in 2018 to pursue social justice initiatives, so she was never able to play with the current generation of WNBA stars in 2021 or 2024.

The Lynx retired Moore’s iconic No. 23 jersey in August 2024 and honored her legacy even further by making the franchise’s first WNBA Finals appearance since her retirement. The Lynx, unfortunately, lost that series in five games to the New York Liberty, but as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming playoffs, the team appears poised to potentially bring home the fifth title in team history.

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