Australia’s emerging superstar Ezi Magbegor is used to blocking shots, but in the biggest snub in women’s basketball this year it was the coaches of the 12 WNBA teams that ended up blocking hers.

The crucial cog in the Opals’ campaign in Paris – which gets under way with a match against Nigeria on Monday (7pm AEST) – the 24-year-old brings defensive strength and mobility matched by a smooth all-around game.

And when she was named on the shortlist for this year’s WNBA All-Star Game, most expected her to be recognised by the final selection panel of coaches with one of the game’s highest accolades. But the team was announced earlier this month and the Australian wasn’t there.

“I’m going to be honest and say yes, obviously I was a little disappointed,” Magbegor told her local newspaper the Seattle Times two days after finding out. “Maybe more than a little bit.”

One ESPN analyst said it could be “the most egregious omission ever”. Storm guard Jewell Loyd described it as a “shocker”. Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said the Australian had deserved the All Star nod. “The way that she’s playing basketball on both ends of the floor, her rebounding, her defence and her impact — she’s definitely one of the top players in our league.” Even Reddit was in unusual agreement, as fans ranted and raved on the WNBA snub.

The saga was a wake up call for the Australian, literally. Magbegor came in early to the Storm’s practice facility the following day, and pledged to channel her disappointment and “elevate” her game. “Just knowing not to take a step back and using it as motivation,” she said.

The New Zealand-born forward/ centre, moved to Australia with her Nigerian parents at age six. She has long been touted as the woman to claim the mantle of Australia’s next great basketball talent after Lauren Jackson retires for good, and following the false start of Liz Cambage in green and gold.

Despite her international roots, Magbegor has always felt an allegiance to Australia in basketball. She tried football before leaving New Zealand and suspected netball would have been the sport in which she would have ended up playing had she stayed. Instead the 1.93m athlete is emerging as one of Australia’s most prominent basketball stars in a sport booming in popularity.

Yet her Olympics experience in Tokyo did not go to plan. In front of empty stands, Magbegor top-scored for the Opals’ in their first two matches, but both were losses. Those results forced a quarter-final match-up against the USA that ended in an earlier-than-expected elimination.

The experience has steeled Magbegor – and the rest of the Opals. The team won bronze at the home World Cup in 2022, only narrowly losing to China in the semi-finals. And they are again among the medal contenders at Paris.

With Magbegor and Alanna Smith, the Opals boast an imposing defensive front-court. Magbegor trails only A’ja Wilson in blocks in the WNBA this season, while Smith is third. But it’s not clear yet how coach Sandy Brondello will deploy the pair of defensive pillars.

In two Olympics warm up matches against China then Spain, the team experimented with different starting combinations. The WNBA contingent – Magbegor, Smith, Magbegor’s Seattle teammate Sami Whitcomb, Steph Talbot, Kristy Wallace, Jade Melbourne and new draft pick Issy Borlase – are complemented by proven talent, including captain Tess Madgen, Cayla George and Marianna Tolo.

Phoenix Mercury wing Bec Allen, who was widely tipped to start for the Opals, injured her hamstring in the final warm-up match, and will be replaced by Amy Atwell for the tournament. The news was a blow for the team on the eve of the tournament. “Bec is such a big part of our team and has been for a long time, we are all devastated for her,” Brondello said last week.

And then there is Lauren Jackson, the player Magbegor describes as her idol. Even her teammates call Jackson the GOAT, though the term was not in wide use until long after Jackson had made her WNBL debut in 1997.

The 43-year-old is at her fifth Olympics, and looms as a wildcard and mismatch hunter still capable of a scoring explosion. But her role is likely to be limited, and instead the focus will be on Magbegor.

In the lead-up to Paris, Madgen anointed the 24-year-old as the player to carry the Opals into the future: “The basketball world really is her oyster.”