Aari McDonald signs with Minnesota Lynx

It's been a long time since former Arizona star Aari McDonald played in a WNBA game. That has come to an end with the first-place Minnesota Lynx announcing her signing on Monday afternoon.

McDonald was injured last August while playing for the Indiana Fever. She tried to come back by playing in the Unrivaled 3×3 league during the WNBA offseason, but she was again sidelined by injury. As WNBA training camp approached this year, she said she would not be in camp but she would return this season. It took a while, but now she's not only returning, but she's doing it with the best team in the league.

The Lynx lead the WNBA standings with a 31-9 record and four games left in the regular season. The league returns to play on Sept. 18 after a break for the FIBA Women's World Cup where many top players are representing their countries. That event runs from Sept. 4-13, but the league shut down on Aug. 31.

McDonald sat out a large chunk of last season after being waived by the LA Sparks in training camp. She eventually landed with the Indiana Fever, where she quickly became a fan favorite of the passionate fan base and a fixture in the local community.

She averaged 9.8 points on 42.9 percent shooting, 4.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 26.3 minutes per game for Indiana last season. She appeared in 20 games with 13 starts. It was a career high in games started, minutes per game, field goal percentage, assists per game, and rebounds per game.

Over the course of her career, she has averaged 8.8 points on 39.5 percent shooting, 3.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.0 steals in 22.3 minutes per game. She has made 136 appearances and 42 starts for three different teams.

McDonald was drafted third in the 2021 draft by the Atlanta Dream just weeks after leading Arizona to its first and only national championship appearance. The Wildcats fell to Stanford by one point after dismissing UConn in the national semifinal.

During her time with Arizona, she won the 2020 Ann Meyers Drysdale award, the 2020 and 2021 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award, and the 2021 Pac-12 Player of the Year award. She joined Arizona's Ring of Honor the year after she turned pro.

Her time with the Minnesota will be her third time being on a playoff team, although she was injured when Indiana made last year's playoffs. She made two playoff appearances with the Atlanta Dream in 2023.

McDonald was also recently announced as an addition to Melikgazi Kayseri Basketbol in the Turkish KBSL for the 2026-27 season. The team will be looking to make a turnaround this year after finishing 6-14 in the KBSL last year. They fell to Fenerbahçe in the quarterfinals of the league playoffs. The organization had its best run during the early-to-mid 2010s when it was a quarterfinalist in EuroLeague (2013-14), the EuroCup runners-up three times, and the runner-up in the KBSL (2014-15).

McDonald's last season overseas was spent in China during the 2024-25 season. She spent the season before that in Australia where she was the league scoring champion with 19.8 ppg and helped her team reach the WNBL Grand Final. Her team, the Perth Lynx, finished as the WNBL runner-up.