Storm Center Ezi Magbegor Out At Least 6-8 Weeks
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Seattle Storm forward Ezi Magbegor (13) dribbles against Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby (5) during the second quarter at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images [/caption]
The WNBA regular season is less than a month away, and it appears the Seattle Storm will be without center Ezi Magbegor — their highest-paid player — to begin the campaign.
Magbegor is currently sidelined with a right foot injury suffered while playing for Australia during the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers in mid-March, the team announced on Monday, April 20. Her timetable for a return is unclear, but “updates on her progress will be made available in 6-8 weeks.”
Seattle would have known about the injury before applying the core designation to Magbegor on April 7 and subsequently signing her to a three-year, $3.75 million contract five days later. Magbegor’s average annual salary of $1.25 million has her as the fifth-highest-paid player in the league currently.
If Magbegor only begins ramping up to a return at the eight-week mark, that would mean she will miss the first 15 games of the season and possibly more.
The Storm’s third overall pick, Awa Fam Thiam, has also still been playing overseas with Valencia (Spain) and isn’t expected to join her new team until early May. That could mean she misses no games, a few games, or much more if the Storm give her rest between stints.
Expectations for the Storm were low going into the draft, but spiked once they were able to land Fam, Flau’jae Johnson, Taina Mair and Grace VanSlooten all in the same night.
Now, it’s time to temper those expectations again. The Storm’s depth will be limited at least to begin the season, with the starting front court likely now being Dominique Malonga and veteran Stefanie Dolson.
That’s not a bad pair by any means. But they also won’t have as much help behind them as previously anticipated.
Magbegor has been mostly healthy throughout her WNBA career and played in all 44 games in 2025, averaging 8.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 blocks per game.
The WNBA is currently in a strange stage where the salaries of players jumped significantly right after they were all forced to still play in other leagues and countries to supplement their income.
Thus, even though Magbegor received a big payday, she was already carrying an injury from another playing commitment. It seems logical that in a few years, these types of situations will become less acceptable moving forward. As the WNBA talent pool and salaries grow, playing elsewhere and risking injury has to be something the league tries to eliminate.
