Why All-Star Ezi Magbegor is the wild card in a possible Storm super team

Countless stars can share a sky.

But they can’t all shine the same.

It’s a concept that translates to roster construction, as teams attempt to balance talent and opportunity. Because, in basketball, there are only so many available shots — a finite number of points, assists, rebounds, etc., in four competitive quarters.

Which is why “super teams” succeed or fail because of fit, functionality …

And, occasionally, compromise.

“I ain’t going to lie to you, man: It was difficult,” former Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh said, on Showtime’s “All The Smoke” podcast in 2020, of the challenge in carving a role alongside fellow NBA All-Stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. “I thought it was just going to be one of those things where you go out there and play and things are going to happen. But basketball doesn’t work like that.”

How will it work for the new-look Storm?

That’s the critical question.

Because after finishing 11-29 in 2023, the Storm made transformational moves, signing a pair of perennial All-Stars in point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith and forward Nneka Ogwumike. On paper, Diggins-Smith, Ogwumike, guard Jewell Loyd (whose 939 points last season set a WNBA record) and center Ezi Magbegor (a first time All-Star in 2023) provide an array of intriguing options.

But between now and the regular-season opener against Minnesota next Tuesday, they must make the puzzle pieces fit.

“I’m just getting a feel for who I’m playing with,” said Magbegor, who’s back for her fifth season with the Storm after playing in Prague in recent months. “That obviously takes time, so I’m using this next week to get a feel for Nneka and Skylar and everybody that’s new on the team as well. It’s not taking a step back; it’s finding my spots in my game, too, learning how to play with all five players on the floor.”

That’s easier said than done. Though Diggins-Smith (33 years old), Ogwumike (33) and Loyd (30) are established vets, Magbegor might be the wild card — a 24-year-old ascending talent with an undefined ceiling. The 6-foot-4 center from Melbourne, Australia, plays a versatile and modern game — with the length to block shots and defend, mobility to run the floor and range to score from distance. She averaged 13.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in 2023 while shooting 51.3% from the floor and 38.5% from three-point range.

In a league suddenly swarming with “super teams” in Las Vegas (A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray), New York (Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, Courtney Vandersloot), Connecticut (DeWanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones) and Indiana (Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston), Magbegor’s development might determine the Storm’s ceiling.

Is this a title contender or a clumsy assemblage of stars?

And how much room will Magbegor have to shine?

“She doesn’t have to dim her light in any way,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said Monday. “I think what she did last year was amazing — to have a great year, to be an All-Star and to carry a lot of the load. What I’m asking her is to do that same exact thing and beyond.

“Because she’s on the floor with Nneka doesn’t mean she stops rim-running or stops being efficient around the rim or taking threes, how she’s developed her game, continuing to be that anchor. So all the things she’s done up to this time period, it just becomes accelerated and elevated because of the players that are around her now.”

Magbegor’s game could certainly grow alongside Ogwumike, an eight-time All-Star and 2016 MVP. Quinn noted: “Ezi has done an amazing job of extending her range and the ‘Ezi Special,’ as we call it, the fake handoff and getting to the rim. But the assertiveness in the paint is the one thing that’s lacking a little bit in that mixture of her game.

“So to see how Nneka is getting to her spots and able to use her physicality to finish around the rim, not just in transition but in a half-court setting, I think that will rub off on Ezi, too.”

Outside of the Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance, a giant poster showcases Seattle’s quartet of stars, along with three words in bold yellow print:

Together WE RISE.

Beside Loyd, Ogwumike and Diggins-Smith, Magbegor will help determine how high.

“We’re going to compete for a championship,” Magbegor said Monday. “We’re obviously still taking each day as it comes. We’re still a new team, so I don’t think we can forget that and jump to success right away. But we’re going to compete every day.

“I kind of just forget it’s real. I’m like: ‘Oh my God, I’m playing with Nneka. I’m playing with Skylar. I’m playing with Jewell again. I’m playing with Sami [Whitcomb].’ I get to play with these players. I’m excited every day, just getting to be here.”