'I missed playing': Ezi Magbegor finally back for Storm

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Australian Opals star Ezi Magbegor declared “it felt really good” to play her first WNBA minutes for the Seattle Storm in 2026 after missing the first 20 games with a right foot injury.

“I think I just realised how much I missed playing,” Magbegor said.

“I think we've done such a great job of just building what we have with this team, so it was just nice to be on the floor and be healthy again, obviously.”

The Storm lost to the Phoenix Mercury 90-67 in her first game, and Seattle is languishing at the bottom of the Western Conference at 6-17, but the return of Magbegor, alongside Opals teammates Jade Melbourne, strengthens their chances of making a playoff push.

“It would have been nice to get the win, but I think it's just one step at a time – just getting used to playing with my teammates again," Magbegor added.

Magbegor, who signed one of Australia’s richest professional basketball contracts before the start of the season, sustained the injury in March during Australia’s 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament in Istanbul.

Through three games, she's averaging:

• 15.0 minutes
• 4.0 points
• 3.7 rebounds
• 1.3 assists
• 1.0 block
• 38.5% shooting

Those numbers are well below her career standards, but the minutes tell the real story. Even without extended playing time, her defensive impact has been evident.

In three games she has:

• Three blocks
• Two steals
• Multiple altered shots around the rim

Against Portland, she finished with:

• Four points
• Seven rebounds
• Two blocks

Those are the sort of defensive numbers Seattle has come to expect from one of the WNBA's elite rim protectors.

Magbegor averaged 27.3 minutes last season and more than 30 minutes during her All-Star calibre campaigns in 2023 and 2024. Seattle is managing her minutes – about half her normal workload.

Meanwhile, Melbourne, who signed with the Bendigo Spirit for WNBL27, is having herself a season.

She is putting together the best season of her WNBA career, and unlike last year in Washington, she's doing it as a consistent rotation player off the bench for the Storm.

While Seattle has struggled, Melbourne has taken another significant step as a playmaker and scorer, returning to the franchise that drafted her in 2023.

By the numbers

Through 22 games:

• 9.0 points (career high)
• 3.8 assists (career high)
• 2.1 rebounds
• 1.0 steal
• 44.0% shooting (career high)
• 82.3% free throws (career high)
• 23.2 minutes (career high)

She's already surpassed last season's scoring average by more than three points while improving her efficiency across the board.

Confidence has grown

Melbourne opened the season aggressively, reaching double figures in six of her first nine games.

Highlights included:

• 15 points, six assists at Connecticut
• 14 points, six assists at Toronto
• 15 points against Washington
• 13 points in the season opener

Rather than simply organising the offence, Melbourne has consistently looked to attack the paint and earn trips to the free-throw line.

She's already attempted 79 free throws, converting 82.3%, a dramatic increase in offensive assertiveness.

A playmaker first

Her passing continues to evolve. She has produced:

• Eight assists against Portland.
• Seven assists against New York.
• Six assists against both Connecticut and Toronto.

Her 84 assists already rank comfortably as the highest total of her career, and she's on pace to eclipse 160 by season's end.

Over Seattle's past five games, she's averaged:

• 11.0 points
• 2.6 rebounds
• 4.8 assists

That stretch includes:

• 18 points and seven assists against defending champions New York.
• 11 points and five assists at Phoenix.
• 11 points and four assists in Seattle's win over Los Angeles.

She's shooting 19-for-34 (55.9%) during those five contests.

Magbegor was one of 10 players on 10 different teams to receive the core offer, signing a three-year contract with the Storm worth USD $3.75 million (approximately AUD $5.2 million) ahead of the 2026 season.

Her Opals teammate Alanna Smith signed the same deal with the Dallas Wings.

Smith, 29, has endured the toughest start to her 2026 season, suffering a nose injury in the preseason, but she’s starting to show the form that led to her multi-million-dollar deal while Phoenix Mercury and Australian Opals guard Sami Whitcomb remains sidelined through injury.