Aari McDonald can’t stop committing to Adia Barnes.
First, it was to the University of Washington, where Barnes was an assistant coach, when McDonald was coming out of high school. Then to Arizona as a transfer when Barnes took the head job at her alma mater. And after three remarkably successful seasons with the Wildcats, culminating in the program’s first trip to the national title game in 2021, McDonald is back at Arizona and with Barnes, yet again. This time McDonald joins Barnes as part of her Wildcats coaching staff, serving as a director of recruiting operations.
Barnes had tried to lure her best player back to campus a year ago after McDonald completed her rookie WNBA season. But at that time, McDonald just needed a break.
Less than two weeks after losing the national championship, she was drafted by the Atlanta Dream and immediately transitioned into the professional game. She played in 30 games in her first WNBA season, then did what most women’s basketball players in her situation do and crossed the Atlantic Ocean for her third season in a calendar year. She went to Hungary to play for UNI Györ, but just three contests in, it was clear she was spent. Sixty-nine games of basketball over the previous 12 months with no end in sight was too much to handle —…
