WNBA star Ezi Magbegor hoping to bring her big blocks to the Opals 

When Ezi Magbegor is patrolling the paint, no shot is safe. The 6-foot-4 Australian who plays for the Seattle Storm in the WNBA already has 20 blocks in the young 2024 season (as of Tuesday’s games). During Seattle’s win over the Chicago Sky on Tuesday (28 May), she had five blocks.

She’s hoping to bring that same energy to the Opals (Australia women's national basketball team) at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Though Australia has not yet named their team, Magbegor has been a key part of the Opals since she helped them win silver at the 2018 FIBA World Cup. She is on the long list for the Australian team and helped her country obtain a quota at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belem, Brazil.

For Magbegor, blocks are the best way she can help her teams win. She’s a stellar rebounder and shooter, and is one of the best defenders in the WNBA. But her blocks disrupt opponents’ offense, rile up the crowd and give the Storm a chance for a fast break.

“My teammates do a great job of helping whenever I make mistakes on defense. We all kind of pick each other up. I think the blocks are where I can kind of help my teammates out in that sense. I'm in the paint and someone's cutting or and I have that help mentality. I don't really plan it. It just kind of happens. I just want to obviously be the defensive anchor for the team. And, when I can get stops or blocks like that, I'll try to do,” she said after the win in Chicago.

Magbegor was named to the last two WNBA All-Defensive teams. Her teammates are grateful, and sometimes shocked by Magbegor’s blocks.

“She has such a knack for the basketball. And that's why she's such a gifted rebounder. Just a knack for finding the ball. I really don't think she sees anybody else. She’s very, very proactive, can react to things happening last minute. Obviously, you know, I’m on some of those guards and I'm like, thank you! She’s just a super helper and just always looking, and a rim protector and by definition for sure,” said Skylar Diggins-Smith, US Olympic gold medalist from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Magbegor’s teammate in Seattle.

“I'm always in awe. Yes, do it again. Keep doing it. I love to see it. And I think it's something must be said to about her ability to block it and kind of keep it in bounds, then go and get it.”

• *As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
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Ezi Magbegor’s success came early

At just 24, Magbegor has already seen plenty of success. In 2020, her first year in the WNBA, she helped the Seattle Storm win the championship. Playing for the WNBL in Australia, Magbegor’s Melbourne Boomers won the league’s Grand Final in 2022. She moved to the EuroLeague for the 2022-23 season; first playing for Sopron before moving to USK Prague. Her 2024 Prague team finished third in the league. Winning so much hasn’t dulled her hunger. It’s actually made her want to win even more.

“There's always something more that you want to achieve. I think it's important to yes, acknowledge what you have achieved in the past. But I think just being so young and there's still so much I haven't achieved when I look at, you know, other great basketball players. I'm fortunate enough to be with my national team. So that's always like an achievement, like winning medals out of Olympic stage, on a World Cup stage. Just knowing that I'm still relatively young and I still have a lot more to give to the game and a lot more that I want to improve on my game, and I think that will help me with my career,” Magbegor said.

Noelle Quinn, her coach with the Storm, has been impressed with Magbegor's demeanor on and off the court.

“The first thing I think about with Ezi is she's an amazing person. To be so young, she has a lot of maturity about her. Her poise, her, her work ethic, her ability to connect with people. She's special in that way. And then what she's done on the court has steadily improved. This year in particular, she's been very steady on both ends of the floor. Defensively, we know that she's our anchor, and she's always in the right spots and using her instincts and offensively, her skill set is continuing to grow,” Quinn said.

Ezi Magbegor hopes to bring her blocks to Paris 2024

At Tokyo 2020, Australia lost in the quarterfinals. The last time the Opals brought home a medal was at the Olympic Games London 2012. Magbegor wants to be part of the generation that helps get the Aussies back to the top of women’s basketball.

“Obviously with the national team, we want some kind of medal. I think it's something we want to just do, just be back on the podium at an Olympic stage after not having the result we wanted to at the Tokyo Olympics. So just kind of building back to that,” she said.

With Magbegor’s height and skills, she’s often compared to another Australian basketball player who won championships with the Seattle Storm: Lauren Jackson. She prefers to just be herself, while still looking up to Jackson.

“It's definitely flattering to hear that people saw that potential in me. I think it's important to recognize that she is Lauren Jackson, and I am Ezi. So I think just obviously idolizing her and seeing what she did for Australian basketball and is still doing for Australian basketball. It's nice to hear that, but she's Lauren Jackson. She is incomparable,” Magbegor said.

Playing in the U.S. and Europe, Magbegor isn’t able to see many of her Australian teammates often. However, fellow Opal Sami Whitcomb is on the Storm with her, and with Australians on several teams in the WNBA, she is able to get a dose of home.

“It’s huge because we aren't with each other all the time throughout the year. I'm very fortunate in that I have Sami so I get to play with her, get reps with her, build that chemistry on the court as well. I get to see her every day. We have Kristy Wallace, Bec Allen, Alanna Smith, so kind of touch points as well. I think it's important to just every few games because are kind of separated from the squad. But I think we're kind of used to it being like Australians. That's kind of what we do.”