The Fever released Aari McDonald Friday, just ahead of the game's rematch against the New York Liberty — a game that will see the return of Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, who have been injured since May 26 and 30, respectively. McDonald quickly became a fan favorite during her short time with the Fever, and fans are sorry to see her depart for quite a few reasons. Chief among those is that there are a couple of teams in the league who would immediately benefit from snapping McDonald up (and one of them is definitely the Chicago Sky).
Clark and Cunningham's return means the Fever no longer meets the terms of a hardship contract, and McDonald could be immediately released. This could help her seamlessly transition to another team overnight if one makes an offer, as she will not be bound to the traditional 48-hour waiting period that would apply if she had been waived. This is a positive thing for McDonald — and for the Sky.
The Chicago Sky needed a point guard yesterday
It's no secret the Sky is having a tough season. There's still plenty of time for the team to come together and turn it around, but a series of poor front office decisions combined with Courtney Vandersloot's torn ACL mean, above all else, the Sky needs an efficient point guard who can run the show.
The trouble for the Sky is that the team doesn't have a lot of extra money unless they make a cut. Both veteran Kia Nurse and rookie Maddy Westbeld are on unprotected contracts — Nurse's contract is for $145,000, and Westbeld's is $69,000. The Sky have $56,000 is open cap space, and McDonald would enter any team as a protected vet, meaning her salary minimum is $78,831.
EuroBasket and the Fever could complicate things
There's another factor to consider: teams who can pick up another player might be waiting until EuroBasket concludes at the end of the month, and a lot of very talented athletes will be looking for somewhere to play. As talented as McDonald is, she might be up against stiff competition.
For what it's worth, the wording of the Fever's announcement also seemed to indicate the team — who can add another player in July — would be very open to resigning her (and perhaps already had conversations indicating that). The Fever's expressed reason for releasing McDonald was to "meet the 10-player roster minimum and WNBA emergency hardship exception requirements," very specific phrasing that can be interpreted to mean they wouldn't have made that choice if they didn't have to.