Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, Sports Illustrated called Moore the "greatest winner in the history of women's basketball".

[5] Moore was the first overall pick in the 2011 WNBA draft and joined a Minnesota Lynx team that already featured all-star caliber players in Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, and Lindsay Whalen.

[11][citation needed] Moore was a four-year starter at Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County, near Suwanee, Georgia, where she had a 125–3 record with the Eagles.

In December 2006, she led the Collins Hill Eagles over Poly (Long Beach, California) by a score of 75–61, resulting in her being selected unanimously as the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament of Champions in Chandler, Arizona.

[15] On November 11, 2007, Moore made her collegiate debut for UConn, recording 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 98–35 win over Stony Brook.

[21] On November 16, 2008, Moore made her sophomore season debut, recording 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in an 82–71 win over Georgia Tech.

[23] Moore became fastest UConn player to reach 1,000 career points and set the mark for number of 3-point field goals made in the Big East history at 10.

[27] On March 7, Moore recorded 16 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals in a 77–41 win over Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big East tournament.

[29] In her final year at UConn, Moore posted career highs in scoring (22.3 ppg), assists (4.1 apg) and steals (2.2 spg).

[32] After graduation, Moore was selected by the Minnesota Lynx as the first overall pick in the 2011 WNBA draft (fourth time for a Husky), also becoming the first female basketball player signed to the Jordan Brand.

[37][38] Though Moore admitted that she struggled at times to adapt to the extraordinary level of talent in the WNBA, her play still earned her Rookie of the Year honors.

She would end up averaging a career-high 23.9 points per game and for the first time in her career, Moore won the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award.

The Lynx were first place in the Western Conference, advanced all the way to the finals and won its third WNBA championship in five years by beating the Indiana Fever, three games to two.

[49] During the 2016 season, Moore averaged 19.3 points per game and the Lynx remained a potent, championship contending team, finishing with a new franchise best 28–6 record.

The Lynx were up against the Los Angeles Sparks, making it the second time in league history where two teams from the same conference faced each other in the Finals due to the new playoff format.

In the semi-finals, the Lynx defeated the Washington Mystics in a 3-game sweep, advancing to the WNBA Finals for the sixth time in seven years, setting up a rematch with the Sparks.

They would face off against the Los Angeles Sparks in the first round elimination game, they lost 75–68, ending their run of three consecutive finals appearances.

[55] In January 2020, she announced that she would once again miss the upcoming WNBA season as well as the 2020 Olympic games in order to focus on her advocacy for criminal justice reform.

[59] Three weeks later, Ros Casares also won the Spanish domestic league (Liga Femenina de Baloncesto) title, with Moore scoring a team-high 20 points in the April 24 final.

[60] The win over Perfumerías Avenida also revenged the March loss in the Copa de la Reina (Queen's Cup) final, when Moore scored a game-high 24.

[64] Moore finished her first season in Shanxi averaging 37.3 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.5 steals per game, leading the Flame to the championship in a 3–1 series over Zhejiang.

[70] Despite the language barrier Moore is well-liked in Shanxi, not solely for her on-court dominance but also for her humility and friendly interactions with fans,[71] who called her the "Invincible Queen" (不败女王).

[72] On January 2, 2018, Russian basketball club UMMC Ekaterinburg announced that Maya Moore had joined their team for the remainder of the 2017/2018 EuroLeague season.

[75] On April 22, UMMC won the EuroLeague Championship, with Moore scoring 17 points, dishing out 7 assists, and recording 4 steals in the final game.

Several players shared scoring honors, with Swin Cash, Angel McCoughtry, Moore, Diana Taurasi, Lindsay Whalen, and Sylvia Fowles all ending as high scorer in the first few games.

[82] Moore won a gold medal with Team USA in 2012, in doing so joining Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Ruth Riley, Tamika Catchings and fellow UConn alums Kara Wolters, Swin Cash, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi on the elite list of female basketball players to have won NCAA titles, WNBA Championships and Olympic gold medals.

Source[85] On July 9, 2016, Moore spoke along with co-captain Rebekkah Brunson at a news conference about the warm up shirts the Minnesota Lynx wore that day to highlight Black Lives Matter and call for change.

Moore has spoken about her faith, saying "Even though I've got a lot of awards and honors, it's nothing compared to what The Lord has done to my heart and what He's done for the world" and "I'm grateful to have the platform of an elite student-athlete and professional basketball player, and I want to do His will with my life.

[99] Moore was the subject of an ESPN Sports Science video clip, discussing her vertical leap, court vision, and muscle memory.

[104] Through her father, Moore has a half-sister, Ashley Dabney, who was a college senior and track and field athlete at Maryland's Towson University in 2012.