In the summer of 2018, a silent time bomb exploded in the SLAM kingdom. Maya Moore made history in a three-part cover series that completed the 217-issue set. Significantly, she was only the second woman to do so. The first was back in 1998, when we asked the NBA if they were ready for Shamiq Holdsclaw. (They weren’t, and neither were our readers.) But where our efforts to challenge the status quo with Shamiq had cracked the glass ceiling, Maya shattered it cleanly.
When I saw Moore on the cover of SLAM 217, I was in a rush. The problem was that I couldn’t find her cover anywhere. It was sold out at SLAM Goods, and I couldn’t even smell it on eBay. Anyone lucky enough to get that coveted first retail run seemed to be holding on to it… and for good reason.
It’s a little unimaginative to say that Maya Moore is one of the greatest female athletes of all time. She’s been a champion at every level possible. She’s won titles in high school, college, the WNBA, and even the Olympics. Not only that, but the list of accolades that come with those championships and medals is almost unimaginable. She’s a Hall of Famer without a doubt, and if you think of her as the GOAT of basketball, I’d be remiss to disagree.
But there was something more to Maya Moore’s game than hardware. It was less specific than trophies, but somehow more impactful. It was a quality that was hard to describe. She was intense on the boards, and her hands were so fast that stills felt like camera tricks, but her style of play and her scoring ability had a majestic quality. It was magic. It was “poetry in motion” magic. The kind that gives you goosebumps and tears when you watch it in slow motion. The kind that reminds you of the beauty of the game we once loved.
MJ is one of the few players who has made an impact on us before, so it was fitting that Maya was brought to Jordan Brand before she ever stepped foot on a WNBA court. In 2018, she stepped off the court in the signature Jordan 10, and she became a symbol of the Jordan Family.
Stepping away from the game during her prime was neither trivial nor purposeless. Beyond basketball, Moore has been fighting for social justice long before the cries for freedom were printed on team uniforms. She was a voice for a community in distress at a time when players who refused to remain silent about their political views were subject to disciplinary action. Her specific commitment to criminal justice reform led her to forgo the 2019 and 2020 WNBA seasons and ultimately retire in early 2023. If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that some things are bigger than basketball.
In some ways, Maya Moore’s appearance in Issue #217 was bigger than SLAM. It broke the floodgates, and many female basketball players have appeared on the cover since then, taking our coverage of Women’s Basketball to a new era. Some of the coolest covers we’ve put out since then have been by the likes of Candace Parker, Sabrina Ionescu, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese. We’ve also seen three rounds of WSLAM specials, each dropping us back to Maya Moore’s Mona Lisa smile, quietly confident, and making a difference without breaking character.
As a SLAM enthusiast who deeply admires Moore’s journey on and off the court, it was important to me to somehow add her cover to my collection. It was a way to appease my instinctive human need to somehow align with those we admire (signed autobiographies, jerseys worn on the field, signature shoes, etc.) and show my loyalty to her cause. Ultimately, I went in person with a member of the SLAM family (thanks Peter Walsh) to get my own personal copy. For me, this cover couldn’t just be another bookmark on my shelf. It needed to be framed and put in a good place. It was something to be observed, discussed, remembered… and when the Maya Moore life story film comes out one day, I’ll proudly point out Maya in SLAM 217 and let her know that I’ve been working hard since day one, as every true SLAM fan should.
Photo credit: Getty Images.
