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Ezi Magbegor

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Ezi Magbegor
No. 13 – Seattle Storm
PositionCenter
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1999-08-13) 13 August 1999 (age 25)
Wellington, New Zealand
NationalityAustralian
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight176 lb (80 kg)
Career information
High schoolLake Ginninderra College
(Canberra, ACT)
WNBA draft2019: 1st round, 12th overall pick
Selected by the Seattle Storm
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017–2018Canberra Capitals
2018–presentMelbourne Boomers
2020–presentSeattle Storm
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  Australia
FIBA World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2018 Spain
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Australia
FIBA Asia Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Bangalore
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Team

Eziyoda "Ezi" Magbegor (born 13 August 1999) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Melbourne Boomers of the Women's National Basketball League and the Seattle Storm of the Women’s National Basketball Association.

Magbegor was a member of the Australian Women's basketball team (Opals) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Opals were eliminated after losing to the USA in the quarterfinals.[1]

Career

WNBA

The 2020 WNBA season was atypical, played entirely inside Bradenton, Florida's IMG Academy, dubbed the "wubble," the WNBA's version of the NBA's Bubble. The Storm entered the wubble with Bird and Stewart back, but without head coach Dan Hughes, whose cancer diagnosis made him a health risk.[2] Bird missed several games with a left knee bone bruise, but came back for the playoffs, in which the Storm didn't lose a single game. The Storm closed out the top-ranked Las Vegas Aces in three games en route to their fourth championship, with Stewart again named Finals MVP.[3]

WNBL

After beginning her career in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) with Basketball Australia's development team, the Centre of Excellence, Magbegor did not take long to gain attention from professional leagues. In July 2017, Magbegor was signed by the Canberra Capitals for the 2017–18 WNBL season.[4]

In March 2018, it was announced that Magbegor had signed a three-year deal with the Melbourne Boomers.[5] Magbegor will first suit up for the Boomers in the 2018–19 WNBL season, choosing to stay home in Australia working alongside the likes of Jenna O'Hea, Lauren Jackson and Guy Molloy despite several offers from US colleges.

In February 2020, Magbegor was named the Betty Watson Australian Youth Player of the Year (formerly the WNBL Rookie of the Year award) at the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Awards, scoring 38 votes from a possible tally of 42 votes.[6]

In April 2022, Magbegor was part of the Melbourne Boomers championship team before moving to play basketball next season in Hungary [7]

WNBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2020† Seattle 22 0 13.3 .569 .333 .704 2.5 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.4 6.5
2021 Seattle 30 3 15.2 .506 .556 .846 3.9 0.8 0.6 1.0 0.9 6.7
Career 2 years, 1 team 52 3 14.4 .532 .500 .788 3.3 0.6 0.6 0.9 0.7 6.6

Postseason

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2020† Seattle 6 0 5.8 .222 .000 1.000 1.2 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.0 1.0
2021 Seattle 1 1 31.0 .444 1.000 .000 9.0 2.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 9.0
Career 2 years, 1 team 7 1 9.4 .333 .333 1.000 2.3 0.6 0.0 0.3 0.1 2.1


National Team

Youth Level

Magbegor made her international debut at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Russia, with the U19 Gems as a 16 year old. She then represented the U17 Sapphires at the 2015 Oceania Championships. Dominating the tournament, averaging 18 points per game and helping Australia take home Gold. Magbegor then lead the Sapphires to their inaugural World Championship title in Spain. After snapping team USA's 28-game win streak at U17 level, Australia went on to take home Gold. Alongside two of her teammates, Magbegor was named to the All-Tournament Team. In addition to this, she received the Most Valuable Player award.[8]

Senior Level

In December 2017, Magbegor was named to her first Opals squad, earning her a place in the first camp as preparations for this years upcoming tournaments got underway.[9] After taking part in the team camp in February, Magbegor was then named to the final roster for the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she would make her Opals debut.[10] Magbegor starred for the Opals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, having a standout game in Australia's win against the US in a pre-tournament friendly with 17 points, equal most in the game with Breanna Stewart. Magbegor then top scored for Australia during the Olympic tournament with 20 points and eight rebounds in the game against Belgium (her Olympic debut), and 15 points against China.[11]

Magdebor, like all the other members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Opals women's basketball team, had a difficult tournament. The Opals lost their first two group stage matches. They looked flat against Belgium and then lost to China in heartbreaking circumstances. In their last group match the Opals needed to beat Puerto Rico by 25 or more in their final match to progress. This they did by 27 in a very exciting match. However, they lost to the USA in their quarterfinal 79 to 55.[12]

Personal life

Born in Wellington, New Zealand to Nigerian parents, Magbegor moved to Australia with her family at age six. One of Australian basketball's most promising talents, she has already been said to be the next Lauren Jackson.[13][14] As of 2021, Magbegor is currently studying a Bachelor of Psychology at Deakin University;[15] she had initially been studying a Bachelor of Commerce in 2019.[16] In 2021, Magbegor was named as Deakin University's Female Sportsperson of the Year.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Basketball MAGBEGOR Ezi - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". olympics.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  2. ^ Zucker, Joseph (9 June 2020). "Storm HC Dan Hughes Will Miss 2020 WNBA Season Because of COVID-19 Concerns". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. ^ "2020 WNBA Playoffs". WNBA.com. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  4. ^ "UC CAPITALS NAME EZI MAGBEGOR WITH ONE-YEAR DEAL". wnbl.com.au. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  5. ^ "EZI MAGBEGOR JOINS DEAKIN MELBOURNE BOOMERS FOR 3 YEARS". wnbl.com.au.
  6. ^ "Congratulations Ezi Magbegor on your WNBL Award!". Deakin Life. Deakin University. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. ^ "Ezi Magbegor and Lindsay Allen moving to Europe next season".
  8. ^ "Magbegor named MVP of 2016 FIBA U17 Women's World Championship, headlines All-Star Five". fiba.com.
  9. ^ "OPALS ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST CAMP AHEAD OF COMMONWEALTH GAMES". basketball.net.au.
  10. ^ "OPALS TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR 2018 GOLD COAST COMMONWEALTH GAMES". wnbl.com.au.
  11. ^ "Opals' reveal full extent of Liz Cambage trauma after Olympics disaster". news.com.au.
  12. ^ "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  13. ^ Helmers, Caden (1 December 2017). Canberra Capitals Nat Hurst and Eziyoda Magbegor named in Australian Opals squad. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  14. ^ Helmers, Caden (21 October 2017). Canberra Capitals young gun Eziyoda Magbegor forging her own legacy. The Canberra Times. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Go Ezi and team! Meet the Deakin students representing Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games". Deakin Life. Deakin University. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Deakin student and Boomers star Ezi headed for the WNBA". Deakin Life. Deakin University. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  17. ^ "2021 Deakin Sport Awards: Congratulations to our Sportsperson of the Year winners!". Deakin Life. Deakin University. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
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