Ariel Rene McDonald (born January 5, 1972) is an American-Slovenian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position. A high quality floor general who was the 2000

Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP The Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, or Israeli Basketball Super League MVP, is an annual basketball award that is presented to the most valuable player in a given season of the Israeli Basketball Premier League, which is the top-tier level ...

, FIBA SuproLeague Final Four MVP in 2001, and an All-EuroLeague Second Team member in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, McDonald played for top European teams like

Montepaschi Siena Mens Sana Basketball Siena, also known as simply Mens Sana, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Siena. It is a section of the sports club Polisportiva Mens Sana, founded in 1871. Under the name Montepaschi Siena, derived from spon ...

, Olimpija Ljubljana,

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

, Panathinaikos, Akasvayu Girona, and

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

Early life and career

McDonald began his high school career at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, outside of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He averaged 24 points per game, on 63% field-goal shooting, and 10 assists per game. After two years at Homewood-Flossmoor, McDonald's family moved to

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. McDonald took his new high school, Athens Drive High School, to the final four in North Carolina.

College career

In the fall of 1989, McDonald arrived at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. In his first year of

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

, McDonald was red-shirted. He and the Golden Gophers greatly improved over the next four years, winning the NIT Tournament, and reaching the second round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament, in McDonald's senior year.

Professional career

McDonald began his pro career in Europe, playing with small teams like Castors Braine (Belgium) and Interier Krško (Slovenia). After his time in Interier Krsko, he was signed by the top Slovenian basketball club: Olimpija Ljubljana. During his time in Slovenia, he played in the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

, which is the top-tier level of European-wide professional club basketball, and he played in the

1997 EuroLeague Final Four The 1997 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four was the 1996–97 season's FIBA EuroLeague Final Four tournament, organized by FIBA Europe. Olympiacos won its first title, after defeating FC Barcelona Banca Catalana. Bracket Semifinals Smelt Ol ...

. McDonald's next stop was

. Soon McDonald became very famous in Israel, and together with Nate Huffman and Anthony Parker, turned Maccabi into one of the best European basketball teams. In McDonald's three seasons with Maccabi, the club won the

FIBA SuproLeague The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, o ...

title (

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

) and twice reached the

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

(

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

). He was the 2000

McDonald played in 139 games, scoring 1,606 points for Maccabi Tel Aviv in three years. Finally, he said goodbye to the club, and moved to one of Maccabi's biggest rivals: Panathinaikos. With Panathinaikos, McDonald put up solid numbers, and also 19 points in the first game he played against his former team, Maccabi Tel Aviv. McDonald played for Akasvayu Girona in the

Spanish ACB League The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

, from the 2005–06 season, up until July 2008. Then he returned to

, for which he had previously played with, in the 2004–05 season.

National team career

McDonald was also a member of the senior men's

Slovenian national basketball team The Slovenia men's national basketball team () represents Slovenia in international basketball competitions, and is managed by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia. Since the independence of Slovenia in 1991, the national team has competed at e ...

. He played with Slovenia's senior national team at the FIBA EuroBasket 2001.

Coaching career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, McDonald became a high school

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

at Providence Academy, in

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis. The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnes ...

Personal life

After playing for two years in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, McDonald became a

n citizen in June 1997. One of McDonald's claims to fame in Israel, was a

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

commercial, in which he said: "Listen to McDonald - only Burger King".

References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileEurobasket.com ProfileSpanish League Profile

Italian League Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Ariel 1972 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Slovenia American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Athens Drive High School alumni Basketball players from Illinois BC Dynamo Moscow players CB Girona players Greek Basket League players Israeli Basketball Premier League players KK Olimpija players Liga ACB players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Mens Sana Basket players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players Panathinaikos B.C. players Basketball players from Harvey, Illinois Point guards Slovenian men's basketball players Slovenian people of African-American descent Homewood-Flossmoor High School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen