Ariel McDonald

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Ariel McDonald (born January 13, 1972 in Ohio) is an American-Slovenian basketball player, playing the 3rd position. 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

Ariel began his high school career at Homewood-Flossmoor High School outside of Chicago. He averaged 24 points on 63% field-goals, and 10 assists per game. After two years at Homewood-Flossmoor, McDonald's family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. Ariel took his new high school, Athens Drive, to the final four in North Carolina.

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. He and the Gophers greatly improved over the next four years, winning the 1993 NIT and reaching the second round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament in McDonald's senior year.

[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 an intimate relationship with Huffman's wife, Jennifer.

After playing for three years in Ljubljana, McDonald became a Slovenian citizen.

[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 Interier Krsko (Slovenia). After his time in Interier 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. He plays for CB Girona in the Spanish league ACB from season 2005/06.

[edit] External links

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