Aarion Shawnae McDonald (; born August 20, 1998) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL) in Australia. She was drafted third overall by the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA) in the

2021 WNBA draft The 2021 WNBA draft was the WNBA's draft for the 2021 WNBA season. A draft lottery was held on December 4, 2020, and the New York Liberty were awarded the first overall pick once again in the draft. The draft was held on April 15, and televised o ...

after playing

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Early life and high school

McDonald grew up in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

as the youngest of six children. After initially playing at Bullard High School in her freshman year, she transferred to Brookside Christian High School in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

. At Brookside, she compiled nearly 1,500 points scored in her two years with the school, recording multiple triple-doubles and even a quadruple double. A four-star recruit, she committed to playing

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

College career

University of Washington

After missing the first seven games due to injury, McDonald played in 28 games, starting 21 of them. She was named to the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

All-Freshman team after averaging 9.8 points on the season, third on the team behind

Kelsey Plum Kelsey Christine Plum (born August 24, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She won a WNBA championship in 2022, when she earned her first All-WNBA Fir ...

and Chantel Osahor. McDonald announced that she would leave the program and transfer after one season. She cited departures of Plum, Osahor, head coach

Mike Neighbors Michael Earl Neighbors (born March 29, 1969) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Arkansas. He moved to Arkansas, his alma mater, in 2017, after four years as hea ...

, assistant coach

Morgan Valley Morgan Valley is a former American basketball player, former head coach of the Hartford Hawks women's basketball team, and current assistant coach for the UConn Huskies basketball team. Playing career High school A two-time Vermont Miss Basket ...

, and the passing of her grandfather as reasons for her transfer.

University of Arizona

McDonald decided to transfer to play at

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

for

Adia Barnes Adia Oshun Barnes (born February 3, 1977) is an American basketball coach and former player. She is currently the head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats women's basketball. She played at the collegiate level for the University of Arizon ...

, a former Washington assistant who was heavily involved in recruiting her to play for the Huskies. She spent her first season with the program sitting out due to transfer rules and was a member of the scout team.

Redshirt sophomore year

McDonald made an immediate impact in her first year on the court for the Wildcats, tying the school's single game scoring record with 39 points against

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

in the second game of the season. She finished the season with 890 points scored, breaking a single-season record set by her coach Barnes, and was the second player in

history to have 800 points and 150 assists, joining her former teammate Plum. She was named to the All-Pac-12 first team and defensive team at the end of the season.

Redshirt junior year

After tying the single-game record for scoring in the previous season, McDonald broke the record with a 44-point performance against 22nd-ranked

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

on November 17, 2019. McDonald racked up awards, being named a second-team All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awa ...

, a first-team All-American by the

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBCA ...

Defensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Pac-12 and on the Pac-12 All-Defensive team. She was also a finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award and named the 2020 recipient of the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given to the top shooting guard in the country. Although she was eligible for the WNBA draft, McDonald announced that she would return for her senior season at Arizona.

Redshirt senior year

McDonald was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, becoming the first Arizona player to win the award since her head coach Adia Barnes. She was also named the Co-Defensive Player of the Year, the second consecutive year she was named the winner. McDonald excelled during Arizona's 2021 NCAA tournament run. After leading the Wildcats past Stony Brook and

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

, she scored 31 points against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in the Sweet Sixteen, sending Arizona to the Elite Eight for the first time. She scored 33 points in the Wildcats' Elite Eight match against

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, despite suffering an ankle injury with more than two minutes remaining in the game. In their next game against

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, she scored 26 points en route to earning the first championship appearance in program history, as well as praise from UConn head coach

Geno Auriemma Luigi "Geno" Auriemma (born March 23, 1954) is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. , he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference sea ...

. In the national championship game, McDonald scored a game-high 22 points and was able to get the final shot of the game off, but could not get it to fall as the Wildcats lost to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

54–53, ending their historic run. She ended her college career after scoring double-digits in 93 consecutive games, which was the longest active streak.

Professional career

After being projected to be a top-five draft pick, McDonald was drafted third overall by the

in the

. She averaged 6.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30 games in the

2021 WNBA season The 2021 WNBA season was the 25th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Seattle Storm were the defending champions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams played a 32-game season (rather than the 36 games agreed to in the ...

. She was subsequently named to the

WNBA All-Rookie Team The WNBA All-Rookie Team is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) honor given since the 2005 WNBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the WNBA head coaches, who are not allowed to vote fo ...

. In October 2021, McDonald had a four-game stint in Hungary with Uni Gyor MELY-UT. McDonald returned to the Atlanta Dream for the

2022 WNBA season The 2022 WNBA season was the 26th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Chicago Sky were the defending champions. The WNBA's second Commissioner's Cup took place during the regular season, with the Las Vegas Aces win ...

and averaged 11.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 36 games. She returned to the Dream in

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

for a third season. On August 25, 2023, McDonald signed with the

in Australia for the 2023–24 WNBL season.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 30 , , 4 , , 16.4 , , .322 , , .308 , , .882 , , 1.6 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 6.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 6 , , 24.3 , , .411 , , .338 , , .871 , , 2.3 , , 2.6 , , 1.4 , , 0.0 , , 2.1 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 66 , , 10 , , 20.7 , , .379 , , .325 , , .875 , , 2.0 , , 2.3 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 1.7 , , 8.9

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 28 , , 21 , , 24.1 , , .473 , , .330 , , .667 , , 2.7 , , 1.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 1.6 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:center;" colspan=12 , ''Sat out due to NCAA transfer rules'' , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 37 , , 37 , , 35.7 , , .452 , , .281 , , .755 , , 6.5 , , 4.6 , , 2.6 , , 0.1 , , 3.8 , , 24.1 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 29 , , 29 , , 31.8 , , .458 , , .278 , , .788 , , 5.6 , , 3.6 , , 2.3 , , 0.0 , , 3.8 , , 20.6 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 27 , , 27 , , 33.6 , , .407 , , .345 , , .765 , , 5.4 , , 4.0 , , 2.6 , , 0.1 , , 3.1 , , 20.6 , - , style="text-align:center;" , Career , 5 years, 2 teams , 121 , , 114 , , 31.6 , , .444 , , .305 , , .756 , , 5.1 , , 3.4 , , 2.3 , , 0.1 , , 3.1 , , 19.1

Personal life

McDonald is the daughter of Aaron and Andrea McDonald. Her brother Tre'von Willis played basketball at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. McDonald is currently engaged to former

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Devon Brewer, who proposed to her after the Wildcats were eliminated from the Pac-12 Tournament in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

*
Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Aari 1998 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Hungary American women's basketball players Arizona Wildcats women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Fresno, California Perth Lynx players Point guards Shooting guards Washington Huskies women's basketball players 21st-century American women