Fever finally address huge hole at point guard with hardship signing

In the WNBA, with a shorter season and smaller rosters, injuries always threaten to derail a season. Depending on how long those injuries are impacting players, though, teams always have the option of using an emergency hardship in order to add much needed depth to their squad mid-season.

The Indiana Fever are in that exact boat. After losing Caitlin Clark to a quad injury for the last week and with another week ahead without her, they also lost Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunningham in a game against the Connecticut Sun, and both are day to day with their respective injuries. That left Indiana with no choice but to pursue a guard in the meantime that could fill in temporarily.

That guard is former 3rd overall pick Aari McDonald, who just signed a hardship deal with the Fever per The Athletic's Ben Pickman. McDonald, who has not played with a WNBA team so far this season, is a 5th year veteran who most recently suited up for the Los Angeles Sparks for 26 games in 2024. She averaged 8.7 points per game there along with 3.7 assists.

Fever sign veteran McDonald to hardship contract

Indiana absolutely had to use what was at their disposal in terms of hardship contracts to allow for Cunningham and Colson to rest up after suffering their injuries. With Clark also still out likely through the weekend, it was imperative the team signed a ball handler who could also score when tapped.

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McDonald is likely to either start for the Fever as their main facilitator or come off the bench, which would mean that Indiana's likely starting five without Colson or Cunningham would feature Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Natasha Howard, Aliyah Boston, and perhaps DeWanna Bonner. The scoring would be there, and specifically their three point shot selection.

McDonald would be a great first guard off the bench who could provide meaningful minutes in relief of Mitchell and Hull, who have both been working hard on the floor to make something work between themselves and opposing defenses that are not collapsing on one of Boston or Clark as often as usual.

McDonald's first game is likely to be on Tuesday against the Washington Mystics.

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