Lynx star Maya Moore to sit out upcoming WNBA season

Minnesota Lynx star Maya Moore will sit out the upcoming WNBA season, the second consecutive season she'll miss, KSTP Sports confirmed Wednesday.

Moore, a five-time All-Star who also won the WNBA rookie of the year award in 2011 and WNBA MVP in 2014, told The New York Times she'll also sit out the Olympics so she can continue to push for criminal justice reform and the release of Jonathan Irons, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence for burglary and assault, but who Moore believes is innocent.

"I'm in a really good place right now with my life, and I don't want to change anything," Moore told the Times. "Basketball has not been foremost in my mind. I've been able to rest, and connect with people around me, actually be in their presence after all of these years on the road. And I've been able to be there for Jonathan."

Lynx star Maya Moore says she will sit out 2019 season

Moore told the newspaper she's not yet retired, despite her decision to sit out another season.

Still addressing her career, Moore told the Times, "I have had such a unique experience in the game. I got to experience the best of my craft, and I did that multiple times. There is nothing more I wish I could experience."

"We are going to miss Maya tremendously, but we also respect her decision," Carol Callan, director of the United States national team, told The New York Times. "A player of Maya's ability does not walk away from the gym lightly. Everyone feels it. The thing that makes her so special is her approach, her dedication, which has always been contagious for our team. We know how devoted she is to what she believes in, and that what she is doing is remarkable."

Minnesota Lynx Head Coach and General Manager Cheryl Reeve issued the following statement Wednesday:

"Over the last year we have been in frequent contact with Maya around the great work in criminal justice reform and ministry in which she is fully engaged. We are proud of the ways that Maya is advocating for justice and using her platform to impact social change."