The bright lights lofted above the famed Staples Center shone on Aari McDonald and her white No. 4 jersey. Sixty-six seconds remained, and the rookie had yet to find herself in such a big-stage situation, but she had no choice.
McDonald had to be the star.
Her veteran teammate and mentor, Odyssey Sims, had a lone point after scoring 26 two nights earlier. Sims didn’t have her rhythm, and the Dream lacked depth at point guard with Chennedy Carter’s indefinite suspension. McDonald saw the floor in crunch time, and didn’t hesitate firing away on a 3-pointer on the wing.
She nailed it and gave her team a late lead. McDonald walked out of one of the sport’s prized arenas, in her hometown, after tying a career-best 15 points and adding four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
“I had to channel ‘Arizona Aari,’” McDonald said. “I got the chance and showed out.”
McDonald found her zone. After returning from the team’s month-long hiatus, the first-year guard seems to have shed the rookie label and taken her game to another level. McDonald has had a few high-scoring performances, but now they’re strung together consistently. Over a four-game stretch from Aug. 19 (the aforementioned game in Los Angeles) to Aug. 26, McDonald has averaged 11.3 points per game and has been an asset in numerous ways.
“Arizona Aari” is the Aari who goes into full-on attack mode. That’s who emerged on the national scene in March for Arizona in the NCAA tournament and became the most-beloved figure across college basketball. She had fearlessness, aggressiveness and the results quickly came to life. That version of McDonald has made its way to Atlanta.
“She’s special. She has a long way to go, but we know her potential,” Sims said. “Her time is coming. She will flourish in this league.”
McDonald found new life when taking a brief moment away from the grind of a WNBA season. She returned to the West Coast and refreshed herself while refining her game. McDonald had conversations about her progression with veteran teammates — Sims, Courtney Williams and Monique Billings have led the leadership efforts — and had a chat with her former AAU coach, Que Ngo.
Ngo has molded McDonald into the basketball player she has become, but he didn’t say much. He didn’t need to. His message was simple: “Just play your game.” And so she did.
McDonald returned to Atlanta in late July, and found comfort amid the chaos of the Dream’s third coaching change since the season began. She sat down with interim coach Darius Taylor, and they noticed what the next step needed to be for McDonald to become a better version of herself. McDonald, as a never-satisfied rookie, wanted more and the Dream knew how to get it.
“I was playing not to mess up,” McDonald said. “That might’ve come off as me playing timid, but that makes you play tight.”
“You can’t play like that in this league,” Taylor said. “She’s really been picking her spots to be aggressive.”
The timing of the Dream’s schedule played in McDonald’s favor, too. The team went to Phoenix immediately out of the break, which meant an immediate return to the rookie’s Arizona stomping grounds. The arena was filled with those to root for McDonald, including Arizona coach Adia Barnes and a slew of Wildcats supporters.
After the game, McDonald interacted with those supporting her. Mercury guard and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi embraced McDonald with some words of encouragement. It gave McDonald a needed nudge about her potential and how her game could elevate.
“I had to remind myself who I was,” McDonald said of that night. “That helped.”
McDonald’s season hasn’t gone as planned with results, at least not in the win-loss record on a six-win team. She’s using her first go-around as a professional player as a learning experience, however, with the future outlook of becoming a centerpiece guard for the Dream.
McDonald doesn’t wait to soak up knowledge. She watches Sims intently, then it’s easier for her to dissect the game and find teammates in a seamless fashion. Once McDonald gets her minutes, she hears from Sims and others during timeout huddles. They’re always passing along tidbits and encouragement.
Over the season’s final stretch, McDonald wants to “probe” a bit more, which simply means attacking the basket and maintaining the dribble. She believes her performances can improve by evaluating for a drive toward the rim and using her quickness instead of immediately picking up the dribble to search for teammates.
McDonald, after the WNBA season concludes, will get her first taste of overseas basketball. She told the AJC that she will play in Hungary with Uni Gyor of the EuroCup league.
“It’ll be important for her to be on a team where she’s a starter,” Taylor said. “She can gain that experience, run a team and get comfortable playing at the pro level.”
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