Storm’s Ezi Magbegor to Miss Six to Eight Weeks With Right Foot Injury
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Just hours before the team’s media day ahead of the 2026 WNBA season, the Seattle Storm announced that forward/center Ezi Magbegor suffered a right foot injury while playing for Australia in the 2026 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers in Istanbul. The team will provide updates on her progress in six to eight weeks, which means Magbegor will be out at least until June, and the Australian big will miss at least ten regular-season games in addition to the team’s two preseason contests.
“Injuries are unfortunate, but I’m feeling good. Obviously, it’s just nice to be back here in Seattle and with the team. That was something that I really just wanted to do, and just be back here for the start of training camp and be able to support the team for the next few weeks.”
Seattle Storm forward/center Ezi Magbegor during the 2025 WNBA season at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
Just a few weeks ago, Magbegor signed a three-year, $3.75M deal, keeping her with the Storm through the 2028 WNBA season. Seattle placed the core designation on Magbegor heading into free agency, securing her exclusive negotiating rights, before agreeing to the aforementioned deal, which was the richest in league history at the time.
While there was some speculation that Magbegor might move on from Seattle in free agency or that she’d be traded by the Storm after receiving the core designation, Ezi and head coach Sonia Raman have made several statements relating to the Australian staying in Seattle for the time being.
“Ezi is a huge part of what we’re going to do. She’s a huge part of this organization and this team. We’re really, really excited to have Ezi with us and back with us. She’s really tapping into her leadership ability right now, and that’s going to be just a huge part of how she pours into her teammates, and I think they’re already feeling it.”
Coming off a down year offensively, Magbegor will look to be a leader in the scoring department when she returns from this right foot injury. The 2025 campaign was Ezi’s lowest statistical output since her second year in the league, a year when she was just 21 years old. It’s been difficult recently for Magbegor, who wasn’t in as prominent a role on the offensive end the last few years, as Nneka Ogwumike was a key area of emphasis in the front court for Seattle. Besides Nneka, Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams saw the ball more, meaning fewer touches and less focus on Magbegor.
For the most part, all Ezi was really able to do was focus on the defensive end of things and was often the team’s anchor on the backend, something Diggins and Ogwumike praised her for over the last two seasons. It will be interesting to see whether head coach Sonia Raman plans to use Ezi more intentionally offensively, whether through drawn-up plays or specific actions. When Magbegor is aggressive with the ball, she has shown to be a force both at the WNBA level and in international play, so with her being labeled as an important part of the franchise going forward, don’t be surprised to see an uptick in her usage.
Given Ezi’s consistent starting role with the Storm in years past, now the longest tenured member of the Seattle franchise, was set to feature as a major piece for the team this season, with how young the roster is. With this injury, the Storm will have to pivot and slot another frontcourt player next to second-year phenom Dominique Malonga in Magbegor’s place. At the moment, it seems like veteran center Stefanie Dolson could slot into that starting role with Magbegor out, unless Seattle feels comfortable throwing rookie center and third overall draft pick Awa Fam into the fire right away.
Seattle Storm forward/center Ezi Magbegor throughout the 2024 WNBA season at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)
Fam returned home to Spain to finish out her season with Valencia Basket after attending last week’s WNBA draft, with the team’s final regular-season game set for April 25th. This means that Fam will miss at least one preseason game with the Storm, the road exhibition game against the Golden State Valkyries on the same day as her regular-season finale with Valencia, and Seattle very well could opt to have her on limited minutes in the team’s April 29th home preseason contest against Portland. The Storm could and likely will play the long game with Fam, similar to how they did with Malonga last year, and slowly bring the talented youngster along as the season goes on.
Another idea that’s fun and may be happening now is having second-year forward Mackenzie Holmes slot into the four spot. Holmes was a prolific scorer during her time at Indiana and has made some great hustle plays to begin training camp, an easy way to get a coach’s attention. Having Holmes at the four would allow the Storm to bring Dolson off the bench and let Fam continue to ease into her time with Seattle.
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