AariMcDonald

2022 WNBA Season (ATL):

• Scored a career-high 20 points off five made three’s against Las Vegas (5/13), just the third game of the season.
• Put up 11 points with 3 rebounds in a win over Indiana (5/15).
• Pulled down a career-high 6 rebounds in a win over Indiana (5/17).
• Led the team with 10 points at Washington (5/24).
• Grabbed a career-high 8 rebounds in a 27-point win over Phoenix (5/29), adding on five assists and two steals.
• Recorded 7 steals against Minnesota (6/1), just the third Dream player to do it, one off the franchise record, and the fourth player in WNBA history to record 10+ points and 7+ steals in a single game.
• Moved into the starting lineup at Phoenix (6/10), scoring 13 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Started and scored 19 points with a team-leading 5 assists and 3 steals at Connecticut (6/15).

2021 WNBA Season (ATL):

• Played in 30 games with four starts.
• WNBA and AP All-Rookie Team honoree.
• Led all first-year players in the league in 2021 with 59 assists and 25 steals, ranked second with 189 total points, 32 three-pointers made and 104 three-pointers attempted.
• Set the Atlanta Dream record with 31 consecutive made free throws, a streak that started on May 25 (at Chicago) and ended on August 25 at Phoenix.
• One of four Dream players in 2021 with 4+ steals in multiple games (Bradford, Hayes, Sims), recording four at Phoenix on 8/15 and again against Indiana on 9/14.
• Back-to-back 15-point games at Minnesota on 6/4 and 6/6; she took a season-high 12 shots in the first game and made a season-high 4 three-pointers; went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the second game.
• Recorded a season-high 4 steals and tied her season records with 4 rebounds and 5 assists against Phoenix (8/15), her first return to Arizona since leading the U of A Wildcats to the NCAA Finals in 2021.
• Made her way into the starting lineup at Washington (9/10), where she played a season-most 33 minutes and set her season-high record with 5 rebounds.

Overseas: 

• 2021: UNI Győr, Hungary

College: 2021 Pac-12 Player of the Year and 2021 and 2020 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year … Two-time All-American … 2020 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Winner … Arizona single-season scoring record holder (890), Arizona single-game scoring record holder (44 points at Texas on Nov. 17, 2019) … Led Arizona to its first NCAA Finals appearance in 2021 … Averaged 21.7 points and 5.9 assists over her three years with the Wildcats … During Arizona’s incredible run to the NCAA Championship game in 2021, McDonald averaged 24.8 points over six games, including 33 against Indiana in the Elite Eight. She is the first Wildcat to ever be drafted in the first round of a WNBA Draft.
Before Arizona, McDonald transferred from the University of Washington, where she was named to the 2017 Pac-12 All-Freshman team and was their third-leading scorer behind WBCA All-Americans Kelsey Plum and Chantel Osahor. Additionally, McDonald was named a finalist for the U19 U.S. World Cup Team and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the week twice last season. Regarded as one of the top freshman point guards in the country, she played in 28 games last season while starting in 21 of them. She averaged just under 10 points per game while shooting 47% from the field in 24.1 minutes per game while scoring in double-figures 12 times last season with a season-high 23 against CSUN. In the NCAA Tournament, McDonald averaged 13.7 points per game.

High School: McDonald was the No. 51 player in the country and the seventh-ranked point guard by prospectsnation.com while averaging 26.3 points and 9.3 rebounds as a junior at Brookside Christian High School. The Fresno, Calif. native was named to the MaxPreps All-State Third Team in California, was a first-team selection for Division IV and was the Stockton Record All-Area Player of the Year. During her junior year, she had six triple-doubles, a quadruple-double and scored 46 points in one game.

Personal:

• Daughter of Andrea and Aaron McDonald
• Has three older brothers, Tre, Anthony and AJ, and two older sisters, Shinaed and Shayna
• Uncle Benny Johnson served in the U.S. military
• Brother Tre played basketball at UNLV, sister-in-law Erica Helms played basketball at UNLV, and cousin Verenique Warren played basketball at Jackson State University.