Aari for 3: Arizona Wildcats star Aari McDonald taken third overall in WNBA Draft

Aari McDonald is usually calm and collected.

She gets excited for big games — like the one she played in a week-and-a-half ago for the national championship.

Yet, on Thursday night, things were different. The Arizona Wildcats’ star guard was waiting for her name to be called in the WNBA Draft.

As she sat inside her family’s Fresno, California, home, surrounded by her parents, Andrea and Aaron; her fiance, Devon Brewer; and the rest of her family, close friends and even former coaches; McDonald was nervous. She picked at her nails.

Then, at 4:24 p.m., WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stepped up to the microphone in the ESPN studios.

“With the third pick in the WNBA draft,” she said, “the Atlanta Dream selects Aari McDonald.”

“Just to hear my name called is crazy,” McDonald said minutes later. “Having my loved ones here — people who have been with me throughout my journey. It’s amazing. I just can’t wait to keep doing what I’m doing and make them even more proud.”

McDonald made Arizona history on Thursday, becoming not only the highest-drafted player in program history but the first WNBA first-rounder, too. She was one of two Wildcats selected: Forward Trinity Baptiste went to the Indiana Fever in the second round, the 24th overall pick.

McDonald’s run through the NCAA Tournament boosted her draft stock. But Dream coach Nicki Collen said Thursday she first noticed the speedy guard when she was a Freshman at Washington. Collen said McDonald’s body of work stood out — not just the final six games of her college career.

“With Aari, we were very much in a ‘best-available’ situation,” Collen said. “We just really felt the combination of who she is, how she plays, the pace that she plays, the energy that she plays with. The defensive side of the ball, everybody who knows me knows, as much as I value offense and want us to be good offensively that I have a defensive mindset. I think it was a little bit of everything with her.

“We certainly knew she was a great player. And we knew she was a great player before the NCAA Tournament when the world realized how good she was. This wasn’t a recency bias where just the fact that she played well, in the NCAA Tournament impacted us.”

McDonald’s pre-draft conversation with Collen was not about how she fits into Atlanta’s system, but more about her game.

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“She asked me my strengths and weaknesses and I told her my weaknesses and she was like, ‘Doesn’t matter. Keep doing what you’re great at. You can already get to your spots and you are an efficient player,’” McDonald said. “She just said to keep doing what I’m doing.”

She’s a popular one, too. Earlier Thursday, McDonald released a new line of T-shirts in collaboration with @PWRFWD. On the short and long-sleeved tees are the pose she struck after dropping a 3-pointer against UConn in the Final Four and the words:

“My name is Aari (Air-E).” She also wrote a letter to the WNBA General Mangers in the Player’s Tribune.

In it, McDonald wrote that she was “gonna keep on grinding until you become a believer. Bet on that.”

At least one general manager believed: Chris Sienko of the Atlanta Dream. And so did Collen.

“You can’t find a bad thing. No one will say a bad word about Aari — from (UA coach) Adia Barnes to (former Washington coach) Mike Neighbors and former assistants that coached her … to her agent, which obviously, that’s no surprise, but I think she’s touched so many people,” Collen said. “I think it was a part of it. I think when you when going into the draft, this draft, it was about depth, it was about future, it was about character. She checks all those boxes — great family, situation, engaged, just very level-headed person, very mature, very mature in her approach to the game, leads when she needs to lead, follows when she needs to follow. I think she will do whatever it takes to help the team win. …

“I’m excited I am paving the way for future Wildcats out there,” McDonald added. “I can’t explain it. I’ve created so much history since I’ve been there. I am so excited. I wouldn’t be here without my coaches and my teammates for putting me in successful positions. Thank you.”

Rim shots

• In Atlanta, McDonald joins all-rookie team selection Chennedy Carter, Courtney Williams and former UCLA standout Monique Billings, among others.

The Dream changed ownership this offseason, after former owner and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s comments about Black Lives Matter caused a controversy. Now, one of the owners is the Dream’s former standout and two-time WNBA champion Renee Montgomery, who sat out the 2020 season because of the pandemic and to work on social justice issues — especially racism.

With their second pick, at No. 15 overall, the Dream selected forward Raquel Carrera from Spain. The UA offered Carrera a scholarship a few years ago, but she decided to stay in Spain and turn pro.

• UCLA’s Michaela Onyenwere was selected No. 6 overall by the New York Liberty and will play alongside two former Pac-12 players in Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu and Cal’s Layshia Clarendon.
• Seattle drafted Stanford point guard Kiana Williams in the second round.