Maya Moore helps overturn Jonathan Irons’ wrongful conviction, Kobe Bryant revealed as third NBA 2K21 cover athlete

Maya Moore halted her legendary basketball career to combat social injustice, and the four-time WNBA champion made one of her biggest assists Wednesday.

After 22 years of imprisonment, a Missouri judge overturned Jonathan Irons’ conviction, and he was released on Wednesday. Irons was originally serving 50 years for assault and burglary.

Moore met Irons before she attended the University of Connecticut in 2007. Irons was only 16 when he was convicted by an all-white jury. He said that he was misidentified in a lineup by the man who was shot and had his home burglarized, leading to Irons’ arrest.

Moore joined Robin Roberts Thursday on Good Morning America to discuss the drastic turn of events.

“In that moment I just -- I really felt like I could rest,” Moore told Roberts. “I mean I’ve been standing and we’ve been standing for so long -- it was an unplanned moment where I just felt relief. It was kind of a worshipful moment just dropping to my knees and being so thankful that we made it.”

Irons said that he won’t hold a grudge against the man who misidentified him in the lineup, and he doesn’t want him to feel guilty. He emphasized that the man was a victim twice in this situation.

“Once by whoever broke in his house and shot him and two by whoever is responsible for manipulating him, feeding him information and coaching him to identify me,” Irons said. “I believe at some point — if not already — he’s going to be hit with a lot of guilt, and I want to let him know that he has a safe place to rest. I do forgive him and I don’t blame or fault him in any way.”

Moore compared her fight for social justice to sports during the interview.

“People don’t want a fixed game, they want to watch a fair game and so that’s all we’re asking for in our justice system,” Moore said. “Let’s be fair, let’s be equal to every person to have the truth be shown.”

Kobe Bryant was named NBA 2K21′s third and final cover athlete. Bryant will appear on the Mamba Forever edition for the current and next-generation versions of the game.

2K Sports’ decision isn’t a surprise. The bigger question was how would the game creatively use Bryant. That was answered Thursday. He’ll be featured in a No. 8 jersey on the current-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One copies, and in a No. 24 jersey on the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

This will be Bryant’s third appearance on the cover of NBA 2K. He was also featured on 2K10 and 2K17′s Legend edition after he retired in 2016.

Bryant joins Zion Williamson and Damian Lillard as 2K21 cover athletes. Lillard will be the standard edition cover star for current-gen systems, and Williamson will be on the cover for standard next-gen copies when that version of the game releases sometime this fall.