Seattle Storm forward Ezi Magbegor had been representing her home country, Australia, in this year's FIBA Women's World Cup in Berlin, Germany. Different countries flew to Germany to compete in the 20th edition of the tournament from Friday to Sept. 13. During the same period, the WNBA is taking a break from Aug. 31 to Sept. 16 to allow players like Magbegor to represent their nations. Magbegor suffered a torn right ACL during an 82-80 win in a qualification game against Italy on Wednesday. Without her, Australia's tournament run ended with an 89-66 loss to Spain on Thursday. To make matters worse, Magbegor will sit out the remainder of the 2026 WNBA season.
Women's basketball fans and spectators feel that it was a waste for Magbegor to get injured outside of the WNBA.
"FIBA Meaningless Games & Now Your $1.2M Player Probably Out for 2027 Also," one fan said .
Other users all over X/Twitter shower Magbegor with love as she goes through the injury recovery process.
Fortunately for Magbegor, the Australian Opals fought tooth and nail against Italy, outlasting them by two points. Magbegor logged just a little over four minutes before she got injured, finishing with two points, two rebounds and one assist.
While the torn right ACL ends both her WNBA and FIBA campaigns for 2026, Ezi Magbegor had already been dealing with injuries. At the start of the year, Magbegor dealt with a foot injury. Eventually, she suffered a facial fracture and had to wear a mask throughout the season. With the injuries, Magbegor was limited to just 14 games, averaging 6.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals.
The Seattle Storm, coached by Sandy Brondello, now aim to finish the regular season strong without Magbegor. Seattle (8-31) has already been eliminated from playoff contention. The Storm return to action on Sept. 17 against the defending champions, Becky Hammon's Las Vegas Aces .
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