Staying in Seattle: Storm sign F/C Ezi Magbegor to 1-year contract extension
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - In exciting news ahead of tonight’s Commissioners Cup contest against the Phoenix Mercury, the Seattle Storm have announced that they’ve extended forward/center Ezi Magbegor through the 2025 season. It’s a one-year contract extension, as Magbegor was only signed through this current 2024 campaign. As per team policy, the details and terms of this contract extension have not been made public. It’s a big deal for Seattle, as so much has changed for the team over the past three seasons in terms of team expectations and whether or not they’d be a playoff team, but one of the constants has been the growth and furthered development of the Australian post player. With Magbegor locked up for the 2025 season, the Storm have some big names under contract through next year including Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Jordan Horston in addition to Ezi.
“Ezi embodies Storm culture; on the court, she impacts every aspect of the game, and off the court, she shines as a connector among our Seattle community and fans. Ezi is a star in this league, a core part of this team and our championship pursuit, and we are thrilled she is staying in Seattle.”
Seattle Storm forward/center Ezi Magbegor during the teams season opener against the Minnesota Lynx at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, May 14th. (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Ezi is off to a strong start this season
As a member of the Core Four, Magbegor has played a key role for the Storm this season as she’s played in every game this year so far and has been a presence at the rim on both ends of the floor. Ezi’s defensive player of the year campaign is already underway, and if nobody else is pushing that idea we will be the first here at Circling Seattle Sports, as she leads the WNBA in blocks per game (3), is top ten in defensive rounds per game (9th, at 5.9), sits at eleventh in total rebounds per game (8.6), and is top five in block percentage (61.5%) as we’re just eight games into the 40-game 2024 WNBA season. Factor all of those averages in to this campaign, and add to it with the fact that Magbegor has three multi-steal games so far this year. In regards to her offensive game, Magbegor continues to grow when she’s helping her teams offense, as she’s been in double digit scoring in all but one game (the double overtime loss to Minnesota in the second game of the season), has attempted a three-point shot in every game and has hit one in all but three contests, while never going under five rebounds in a game yet this season. Magbegor has been important to this team with her statistical contributions and as well with her reliability, as she has yet to miss a game this season, and we aren’t trying to jinx things by saying that. While some media have referred to Seattle as a big three, referencing Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Nneka Ogwumike, leaving Ezi Magbegor out is criminal oversight of an impactful player that is only getting better, has been one of the Storm’s best players this season, and ignores the “Core Four” moniker that was heavily pushed already this preseason and early into this year.
“Seattle is where I want to be. It’s been my home away from home for the last 5 years and I love what we are building as a group. I’m excited to commit to an organization that has created a standard for women’s sports and leads the way as a professional sports team on and off the court.”
Seattle Storm forward/center Ezi Magbegor during the teams blowout win over the Washington Mystics at Climate Pledge Arena, on Saturday, May 25th. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)
Magbegor’s growth has been fun to watch
Since joining the Storm back in 2020, Magbegor has gotten better every single year and at this point she’s still only at the age of 24. Magbegor did play solid minutes during the teams run in 2020 that ended with the Storm winning that title in the “Wubble” due to the COVID pandemic, and her role as only increased further since then. Even though she only saw a two-minute increase in time on the court in 2021, Magbegor saw several of her stats get a noticeable increase, including with blocks, assists, and free throw percentage amongst others as she worked for minutes with other post players at the time in Natasha Howard and Mercedes Russell. The 2022 season is where Magbegor really began to take off, as she was getting consistent starting time for a Storm team that was trying to get Sue Bird one final title in her last professional season, but the growth that was displayed early on was disrupted as the team signed Tina Charles around the midway point of the season, pushing Ezi to the bench and sometimes to the four spot so that Charles could play as a center, and even then she was named to the All-WNBA defensive team. The 2023 campaign is where Ezi Magbegor really began to take off, as she solidified herself as a star in her own right alongside Jewell Loyd despite the teams overall struggles. Magbegor earned WNBA All-Star honors for the first time in her career and again earned All-Defensive team honors. In addition to that, she finished the season with a franchise record of 322 rebounds, and her 74 blocks were the second-highest in team history.
Taking all of her play in the WNBA into account, Magbegor has been a serious contributor for the Australian national team as well. Magbegor represented Australia at the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Brazil, averaging 12.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game. She earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors and led the Opals to an undefeated record and qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Magbegor has helped Australia win a bronze medal at the 2022 FIBA World Cup and Silver in the 2018 World Cup. Continuing to look at where Ezi has seen succes, Magbegor has played well in overseas competition as well. During this past WNBA offseason, Magbegor dominated in EuroLeague competition with ZVVZ USK Praha in the Czech Republic, leading the competition with 2.4 blocks per game, third in rebounds at 8.2 per game, and 10th in scoring at 13.2 points per game.
Why not a longer extension?
Some may look at this one-year extension for Magbegor, keeping her in a Seattle uniform through the 2025 season, and ask why couldn’t/didn’t the team extend her further considering the continued growth that she has displayed and with how young the Australian post player is? While we would’ve loved to see Magbegor sign a big deal to ensure that she’d be a franchise cornerstone for years, it’s important to note what sort of chaos may be coming after that 2025 season and in the free agency ahead of the 2026 year. The WNBA will be getting into a new media rights deal after that 2025 year, which will essentially mean more money: an increase in salary cap for the teams around the league, and players won’t want to be locked down to deals that have them paid less for their talents than other players who may not be at their level. Take that into consideration, the fact that Toronto will be ready to become a player in free agent talks at that point, Golden State will have a season under their belt, etc. There are many factors, and it will be chaotic to see how free agency and potential trades may play out that offseason as new money comes into the league and players will want to put pen to paper on contracts that they feel accurately represents them and what they bring. Keep in mind for the Storm that currently they do have a few players under contract for multiple years, not mentioning the rookie deals that keep Jordan Horston under contract until she’s a restricted free agent in 2027 and the one that keeps Nika Mühl under contract until she’s a restricted free agent in 2028. As mentioned before, Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and the two young players in Horston and Mühl are under contract with Magbegor through this year and in 2025. After that, and depending on the team success that the Storm see over the next two campaigns: it’s going to be very interesting to see what Seattle’s roster looks like in 2026.
Seattle Storm forward/center Ezi Magbegor through the 2024 preseason and regular season so far. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
What’s next?
The news is exciting for both sides obviously, as the Storm retain their young and exciting forward/center for at least another year before the new TV deal money comes in for the WNBA in the 2025-26 offseason in what should be a mess of a free agency, and Magbegor ensures she has consistency for next year as she continues to grow her game. Tonight, the Storm will host the Phoenix Mercury at Climate Pledge Arena with a tipoff time of 7PM PDT, that will be broadcast on Arizona's Family 3TV / Arizona's Family Sports, CBS Sports Network, FOX 13+ / Amazon Prime Video - Seattle, Mercury Live (Livestream). This is the first game of the WNBA’s Commissioners Cup for the Storm this season, and second for the Mercury as they defeated the LA Sparks in their first Cup game back on June 2nd. The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase is an annual in-season competition. The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase, which will be played on Tuesday, June 25 at the arena of the team with the best record in Cup play. Coinbase has committed an additional $120,000 in cryptocurrency to the prize pool, which includes $5,000 for each player in the championship game. The Storm won the Commissioners Cup back in 2021, it’s first year of existence.
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