Minnesota Lynx Player Maya Moore to Sit Out of 2019 WNBA Season

Maya Moore, the valuable forward for the team Minnesota Lynx, will be taking a much-needed break from the WNBA career for at least a season. She will be joining the team shortly after the season ends.

• Maya Moore announced that she is taking time off her WNBA career for the season.
• She will focus on her family and some ministry dreams.
• Moore will join the team shortly after the season ends.

Maya Moore announced Tuesday, 5 February 2019 through The Players' Tribune that she will not be a part of the WNBA in this season. She also unveiled her plans about focusing on her family and some ministry dreams that was stirring in her heart for many years.

There is usually a period of shock any time a WNBA star announces a year off from the league, Moore's decision didn't steer much controversy as it is not that surprising. Given the low pay and short season, many of WNBA players choose to go overseas.

I will not be playing professional basketball this year. https://t.co/cVUO9Uhjd0

— Maya Moore (@MooreMaya) February 5, 2019

 

The woman players settle to play in Europe, Asia or Australia rather than their mainstream career during the winter season, which results in them playing year round. 

She told The Players' Tribune,

There are different ways to measure success. The success that I've been a part of in basketball truly blows my mind every time I think about it. But the main way I measure success in life is something I don't often get to emphasize explicitly through pro ball 

She added,

I measure success by asking, 'Am I living out my purpose?' I learned a long time ago that my purpose is to know Jesus and to make Him known.

Moore played for the WNBA for around a decade which makes it understandable that Moore is burnt out and wants to take a break from the hustle and bustle of basketball. It will allow her to reset and focus on other things that are more important to her.

It shall also give her body a much-needed chance to rest. Looking back at her career, she was not allowed much rest since her college days.

Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said in an official statement,

As she recently shared, Maya has expressed a need to shift her attention more fully to family and ministry dreams in a way that she has been unable to as a professional basketball player. We support her in this exploration and will continue to provide her the love and care she has always known from her Lynx family.

Moore is definitely not the first WNBA star to take a recess after a certain period of shining for their respective teams, both in the WNBA and overseas. In recent times, Angel McCoughtry sat out the entire 2017 season and Emma Meesseman took time off for all of the 2018 basketball campaigns.