Aari McDonald

Aari McDonald is a professional basketball player, currently playing for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Breeze of Unrivaled. She started her professional career in 2021 when she was selected third overall by the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA draft. Her career has seen her playing for several teams, including the Atlanta Dream (2021–2023), Los Angeles Sparks (2024), and Indiana Fever (2025–present). In 2023, she led the Perth Lynx in Australia with 19.8 points per game and earned All-WNBL Second Team honors. McDonald also played in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association for the Beijing Great Wall during the 2024–2025 season and was drafted by Breeze BC for the 2026 Unrivaled season. She co-hosts the podcast "Aari and Rachel: Unfiltered at Unrivaled" with Rachel Banham.

McDonald's career has been marked by several notable achievements. She was named WNBA Commissioner's Cup Champion in 2025, WNBL scoring champion in 2024, and was part of the WNBA All-Rookie Team in 2021. Her defensive skills were recognized with two Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2020 and 2021. She was also recognized as a two-time First-team WBCA All-American (2020, 2021), two-time Second-team All-American by AP and USBWA (2020, 2021), and received the prestigious Ann Meyers Drysdale Award in 2020.

Her time as a college player was equally distinguished. McDonald was named Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2021. She was also part of the All-Pac-12 team and the Pac-12 All-Defensive team for three consecutive years (2019–2021). Despite suffering a season-ending injury in August 2025 while playing for the Indiana Fever, McDonald has shown resilience and determination, traits that are undoubtedly valuable both on and off the court.