The Seattle Storm will be without starting center and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Ezi Magbegor for Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Las Vegas Aces, the team announced. Magbegor remains sidelined with a concussion, and it's unclear if she'll be ready for Game 2 on Tuesday.
Magbegor suffered her concussion against the Dallas Wings on Sept. 13 and has not played since then. There is no official timeline for her return.
Her absence will be a major loss for the Storm, who are up against the back-to-back champions and MVP A'ja Wilson. While no one can singlehandedly stop Wilson, who just became the first player ever to score 1,000 points in a season, Magbegor has all the tools to at least make her work.
The 6-foot-4 Magbegor, who has made an All-Defensive Team in each of the last two seasons, and is likely going to earn that honor again this season, averaged 1.1 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. She finished third in the league in the latter category and was one of just three players to average at least one steal and two blocks.
Though the Storm were ultimately a bit disappointing on the offensive end given their talent, they were a terrific defensive unit. They finished fourth in the league with a 96.4 defensive rating and had the second-best opponent turnover percentage at 20.0.
In order to pull off an upset in the first round, they need to stifle the Aces' high-powered attack and turn this series into a low-scoring affair. That will be a much more difficult task without Magbegor.
The one silver lining for the Storm is that they do have Mercedes Russell to call on off the bench. She started the three games that Magbegor missed at the end of the regular season, and while she's not as mobile as her Australian teammate, she is 6-foot-6 and provides a real presence in the paint.
