Ariel McDonald

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Ariel McDonald (born January 5, 1972 in Harvey, Illinois) is a Slovenian basketball player of American origin, playing the point guard positions. McDonald played for European teams like Maccabi Tel Aviv and Panathinaikos.

As a young boy, McDonald's favorite sport was tennis. He decided that tennis wasn't competitive enough so he moved on to playing basketball.

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[edit] Early life

When he was 15 Ariel played in his high school team, Homewood Flossmoor. He averaged 24 points on 63% field-goals, and 10 assists per game. After two seasons at Homewood Flossmoor, McDonald's family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. Ariel took his new high school to the final four in the United States.

In the fall of 1989 Ariel arrived at the University of Minnesota. Ariel was only 18 years old, and the beginning was very hard for him. Ariel's parents got divorced, and if that was not enough his coach, Clem Haskins, told him that "he was just too weak". In his first year of college, Ariel was redshirted, but remained a practicing member of the squad.

[edit] Personal Life

After the 2001/02 season, McDonald left Maccabi because he argued with his former teammate Nate Huffman, the latter claiming that McDonald had sexual intercourse and an intimate relationship with Hufman's wife, Jennifer.

[edit] European career

Ariel McDonald's highlight years were the three years in which he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv. But the man who had a tough time getting minutes in Minnesota had to play for small teams like Braine Castor (Belgium) and Interion Krsko (Slovenia). After his time in Interion Krsko he was taken to the top Slovenian basketball club: Olimpia Ljubljana. McDonald's next stop was Maccabi Tel Aviv. Soon Ariel 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 Suproleague title (2001) and twice reached Euroleague Final Four (2000, 2002). One of McDonald's claims to fame in Israel was a Burger King commercial in which he said: "Listen to McDonald - only Burger King". Ariel McDonald played 139 games, scoring 1606 points for Maccabi Tel Aviv in three years. Finally he said goodbye and moved to one of Maccabi's biggest rivals: Panathinaikos. With Panathinaikos Ariel McDonald put up solid numbers and also 19 points in the first game he played against former team Maccabi Tel Aviv.

[edit] External links

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