Fever Coach Stephanie White Has Blunt Opinion on Newest Addition

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Robert Marvi | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 12:48 AM ET

The Indiana Fever have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug lately. They first lost Caitlin Clark to a strained quad roughly a week ago, and on Friday, they saw Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson go down with ankle and leg injuries, respectively.

Those ailments left them thin in the backcourt. So they used the WNBA's emergency hardship exemption to sign Aari McDonald, a guard who was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft.

In her first game with Indiana, McDonald registered five assists and three steals in 27 minutes off the bench as the team ended a three-game losing streak with an 85-76 victory over the Washington Mystics.

McDonald made just two of her seven shot attempts, but head coach Stephanie White praised the guard's facilitating and defense.

"Aari was terrific…she got us settled…she set the tone on the defensive end and that was big time for us," White said.

Stephanie White on Aari McDonlald

"Aari was terrific…she got us settled…she set the tone on the defensive end and that was big time for us."
— Moreau Sports Media Prod Co. (@MoreauSportsCo) June 4, 2025

In college, McDonald was the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2021 and a two-time winner of the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award in 2020 and 2021 as a member of the Arizona Wildcats.

In three years with the Wildcats, she averaged over 20 points a game, peaking at 24.1 points a contest during the 2018-19 campaign after transferring from Washington.

McDonald, who is originally from central California, spent her first three pro seasons with the Atlanta Dream before she was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks prior to last season. In her first four years in the WNBA, she averaged 8.6 points, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals in 21.6 minutes a game while shooting 38.9% from the field and 32.3% from 3-point range.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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