The Ezi Magbegor Conundrum

The Storm have to figure out what they want, and so does Magbegor.

Earlier this off-season, the Seattle Storm had to make a difficult decision as they dismissed former Head Coach Noelle Quinn and her entire coaching staff. They will have another major decision to make once Free Agency starts. What type of team does Coach Sonia Raman want to build in her first season?

Most notably, what is the team’s plan with their frontcourt? Seattle drafted Dominique Malonga with the second overall pick. She showed great promise during her rookie season and was named to the 2025 All-Rookie team. Malonga became the youngest player in WNBA history to have a 20/10 double-double. It’s difficult to imagine that Malonga won’t take on a significantly larger role for the Storm in 2026.

Meanwhile, both Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor will be Unrestricted Free Agents. Ogwumike led the Storm in scoring (18.3 PPG) and rebounding (7.0 RPG). She was named to her 10th All-Star appearance and her 7th time to the All-WNBA Second Team. Nneka is still playing like one of the 10 best players in the WNBA. Even though she will turn 36 next season, I have no doubt that Ogwumike can still play at a high level. I could envision Nneka finishing her career with the Storm and playing another 2-4 years with the team.

On the other hand, Magbegor struggled more than expected in 2025. She averaged her fewest points (8.0 PPG) since 2021, her second year in the league. It was also the first season that she shot below 50% for her career, albeit just barely (49.3% FG).

I believe Ezi has a lot more to give, but does Seattle’s front office feel the same? Maybe just as importantly, does Magbegor feel like she will truly be given the opportunity with the Storm?

Always Someone in Her Way

Ezi Magbegor has had to bide her time on the Seattle Storm for a long time. She was fortunate to be drafted at 19, similar to Dominique Malonga. Instead of joining the team in 2019, she joined the team in 2020 during the “Wubble” season. That year, she entered the depth chart behind Breanna Stewart, Natasha Howard, Crystal Langhorne, and Mercedes Russell. But she worked her way up that year to be arguably the team’s third-best post player behind Stewart and Howard.

They finished 18-4 during the shortened pandemic season, tied with the Las Vegas Aces for the best record in the WNBA that year. Seattle went on to sweep their way through the playoffs 6-0, taking down the Minnesota Lynx and the Aces to win their 4th championship.

It was the end of the era after that. I don’t know if we can officially call that Storm team that won two WNBA titles in three years an actual dynasty. But if so, it was the end of that dynasty. While they kept the primary core of Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd together, they lost a lot of their key glue pieces, including Natasha Howard, Alysha Clark, and Sami Whitcomb.

Howard wanted a larger role after her 2019 breakout season, in which she played like a legitimate MVP candidate, won Defensive Player of the Year, and was named to the All-WNBA First team. She was given the franchise core tag and traded to the New York Liberty. The development of Ezi Magbegor, who shared many on-court similarities to Howard, likely made the trade request easier to stomach for the Storm’s front office.

In 2021, Magbegor remained a bench player for the majority of the season. The Storm started Mercedes Russell, who had been with the team since 2018, over Magbegor. The front office also brought in Candice Dupree to play ahead of Ezi. Dupree lasted just six games in the starting lineup due to her subpar play. After 16 games, she had completely fallen out of favor and agreed to a buyout from the organization. Magbegor put up similar numbers to her rookie season, averaging around 6.7 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 15 minutes off the bench.

In her third year, Magbegor really started to blossom. She earned the starting Center job next to Breanna Stewart in the front court. She showed major flashes of being a strong contributor. In the first 15 games of the season, she was averaging 12.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 2.7 BPG. This was Sue Bird’s final season, and the team was good, but not quite a championship contender. When they had the opportunity to sign Tina Charles in the middle of the season, they jumped on it.

Once Charles joined the team, she quickly took Magbegor’s starting role and kept it to the end of the season. Ezi went from playing 30+ minutes per game down into the teens and low-20s. Magbegor’s growth and development were put on pause as the team tried to get Bird a 5th title in her final season.

In 2023, Tina Charles wasn’t retained, and Breanna Stewart fled to New York. Ezi had her first season in the WNBA, where she was the primary post player. She finished the year averaging 13.8 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.6 APG, and 1.9 BPG. She was named to her first WNBA All-Star team during the season. Rebecca Lobo said on Ezi’s draft night in 2019 that she had the potential to be the #1 overall pick if she had gone to college for four years instead of jumping straight to the WNBA. At 23, Magbegor was realizing her potential as an All-Star in the WNBA.

In 2024, Seattle recruited Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike to join All-Stars Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor. And while Ogwumike became the team’s priority in the post, Magbegor still averaged 11.7 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and increased her blocks to 2.2 BPG. I thought she deserved another All-Star nod, but she was not named to the team.

When things didn’t work out between Loyd, Diggins, and Ogwumike, I wrote that the Storm should consider building around Ezi Magbegor. This was during the period after Loyd had requested a trade, but before any deal had been completed.

This past season, Magbegor’s production dropped by a good amount. Her averages dropped to 8.0 PPG and 6.2 RPG. Her blocks stayed high at 2.2 BPG; she was still named to the All-Defense 2nd Team, but it was her lowest production since her sophomore season in 2021. Former head coach Noelle Quinn indicated that Ezi was dealing with an injury earlier in the season that may have played a factor, but kept quiet on what it was.

The other factor was the development of budding star Dominique Malonga. The 6’6” French Center also started taking some of Magbegor’s minutes. Malonga’s production became increasingly impressive as the season went on. Dom finished her rookie season averaging 7.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 0.7 BPG in just 14 MPG. Malonga’s Per 40 stats increase to 21.5 PPG, 13.0 RPG, and 1.9 BPG. Those numbers are better than Magbegor’s Per 40 of 11.7 PPG, 9.0 RPG, and 3.2 BPG.

No matter how General Manager Talisa Rhea builds the 2026 Storm team, the consensus is that the team should build around Dominique Malonga.

In an interview shortly after the dismissal of Coach Quinn, Rhea hinted that she felt the team had enough talent to go further in the playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to run it back, trying to bring the main core back.

With the talent displayed by Malonga at just 19 years old, I have a hard time envisioning that she won’t enter the starting lineup in 2026. If the Storm try to run it back with the older core and Nneka Ogwumike re-signs with the team, where does that leave Ezi Magbegor?

It’s Complicated

While it’s easy for me to say that the smart move would be to embrace a youth movement. I’ve written this before and still believe it: the Storm should build around Dominique Malonga and Ezi Magbegor for the future of their frontcourt, even at the cost of not re-signing Nneka Ogwumike. But would Ezi prefer to keep playing with Nneka?

Magbegor noticeably started to tear up during her exit interview when asked about what Nneka Ogwumike means to her.

“I don’t know why I’m getting emotional. I’m sorry. I just think when you’re able to play with great players, it’s really special, but when you’re able to play with great people as well, that’s not something that everyone gets to experience, and so I’ve just been really fortunate to be able to play with Nneka these past couple of seasons and just to be able to learn from her; see how she goes about the day-to-day it’s incredible and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before and just the way that she’s able to uplift players and uplift me. I think specifically and not in a way that’s you know, like rah rah, she just gets me and I feel like when you have a player like that, you want to meet them where they’re at and so whether I tell her enough or not, I feel like Nneka has had such a huge impact on my career the last couple of years. And, yeah, I just love her as a person, as a player, as a friend, as a sister.” Magbegor said.

Were those tears from the support and guidance she has received from Ogwumike? Or did they happen because Ezi realized they may not play together again in 2026?

I’m not sure why the video is so zoomed in for Ezi’s interview, but you can listen to her talk about her time with Nneka here (44:36 mark).

Possible Solutions

Does it actually need to be an either/or situation with Nneka and Ezi? Not necessarily. I would like to see Magbegor be featured more and play a larger role on the team beyond the expectation to be a defensive anchor, but I can’t say for certain that’s what Ezi wants.

I asked her about taking on a larger role during the Exit Interviews.

“For sure I think probably my defensive game is something that’s more talked about, especially this past season, but I feel like you know, like you said, my offensive game is there I think just being able to find my role in a particular team and whether that’s being more dominant offensively, I think that’s something that I would obviously want to do, but being able to play with Nneka, with Sky, with Gabby, with so many offensive threats you just try to find where you fit in that. But yeah, I think offensively, it’s something I’m always trying to grow my game in. And so I definitely want to remain consistent with that and grow my game offensively and just be confident in that,” Magbegor told me.

Ogwumike could re-sign with the Storm for 1-2 years. They could keep Nneka, Ezi, and Dom together. Coach Quinn was hesitant to play all three together. It was understandable as they didn’t have a lot of frontcourt depth after trading away Li Yueru. But an updated roster could fix that problem. Plus, Ogwumike has increased her shooting range to the three-point arc over the past two years. Last season, she shot 37% on slightly over four attempts per game. In theory, Seattle could slide Ogwumike down to the three, play Magbegor at the four, and Malonga at the five.

Alternatively, the Storm could repeat what they did last year. Start Ezi and Nneka in the frontcourt and bring Dominique off the bench. While I feel it’s only a matter of time before Malonga is inserted into the starting lineup, she is young enough (will be 20 years old for the entire 2026 season) that Seattle could play the long game with her development. It’s not unprecedented, as Magbegor didn’t become a starter until her third season in the WNBA, and she entered the league at a similar age (Dom was 19, Ezi was 20).

If Seattle had to pick between keeping Nneka or Ezi, I would hope they’d choose Magbegor. At 26 years old, she fits the team’s timeline more with Malonga (20), Jordan Horston (24), and the team’s upcoming lottery pick.

But if they bring both of them back, Ogwumike can continue to mentor both Magbegor and Malonga in their development before handing the reins over to them for good.

Last Resort

The Storm should re-sign Ezi Magbegor. I see it as arguably the team’s top priority in Free Agency. However, if they do not believe they can come to an agreement or if Magbegor outwardly expresses an interest in signing with a different team, then the Storm need to be pragmatic.

Unless the new WNBA CBA (whenever it gets agreed upon) eliminates the Franchise “Core” tag, the Storm should place the tag on Magbegor. It would not be smart to allow a 26-year-old, former All-Star, elite athlete, entering the prime of her career, to walk for nothing.

With so many of the league’s players becoming free agents, Seattle would likely have to trade for a player still on their rookie-scale contract or a draft pick. If the Lynx’s lottery pick falls a spot or two to third or fourth overall, would they be willing to trade that pick for Magbegor? Would one of the expansion franchises part with their first-round pick (6 or 7) or a future 2027 first-round pick in exchange for more of a sure thing? There was some chaotic energy going on between Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky. If Reese demands a trade, I’m not sure the Sky could do better than acquiring Magbegor. Maybe Seattle would have to part with the 14th or 16th overall pick as well to get that trade to go through. The Washington Mystics have three first-round picks, and the Connecticut Sun have two late first-round picks. It’s possible Seattle could trade for one of those picks if they couldn’t get one of those better deals I proposed earlier.

Once again, this isn’t something I think the Storm should do, but those are some options if the team believes Magbegor would prefer to move to a new team.

The Future…

If the Storm re-sign Magbegor to a multi-year contract, they will be in a great position with their frontcourt for the next several years, whether they also bring back Nneka Ogwumike or not. Ezi will be 26 years old for the majority of the 2026 WNBA season. Dominique Malonga will be 20 for the entire season. Both players have the potential to be All-Stars. Magbegor likely has at least five more years of her prime. Dom won’t even enter her prime for another five seasons.

This would also allow the Storm to focus their lottery selection on one of the premier guards/wings entering the draft. Olivia Miles, Azzi Fudd, and Flau’jae Johnson are just some of the names expected to be drafted in the lottery.

Seattle can build additional post-depth either via Free Agency or with one of their next draft picks (14th or 16th overall).

If they don’t bring Ezi back, they’ll likely be OK in 2026 if they re-sign Ogwumike, but the team’s long-term future will be more in doubt. Unless they opt to use their lottery selection on one of the top post prospects (Awa Fam or Lauren Betts).

What do you think, Storm fans? Should the team focus on more of a youth movement and move on from Nneka? Do you think Ezi will be given more of an offensive opportunity with a new head coach? Do you think it’s still in the team’s best interest to keep Ogwumike around to help mentor Malonga (and possibly Magbegor)? Is the best move to trade Magbegor in the off-season? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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