It’s been over a week since the Minnesota Lynx lost to the Atlanta Dream in a disappointing performance leading into the FIBA World Cup Break. Since then, all Lynx fans have really had to focus on how Napheesa Collier’s continuing recovery is looking with Team USA and which teammates showed up for the opening of Kayla McBride’s new coffee shop.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Cheryl Reeve decided to spice up everybody’s Labor Day.
The Lynx announced Monday they signed veteran guard Aari McDonald, waiving rookie Eliška Joklová in the corresponding move. The transaction exchanges a developing player who seldom cracked the rotation for a former No. 3 overall pick who was playing some of the best basketball of her career before injuries wiped it out more than a year.
It is an easy gamble, but not quite a risk-free one.
A Proven Option if Healthy
McDonald’s résumé is more substantial than what’s typically available on the free agent market in September.
After being waived by the Los Angeles Sparks at the end of training camp in 2025, McDonald joined the Indiana Fever on an emergency hardship contract. She played well enough that Indiana brought her back on a rest-of-season deal after the hardship arrangement expired.
In 20 games with the Fever, including 13 starts, McDonald averaged 9.8 points, 4.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 26.3 minutes. She shot a career-best 42.9% from the field and scored a career-high 27 points against Phoenix in July.
McDonald also played an important role in Indiana’s upset of Minnesota in the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup Final, contributing 12 points as the Fever denied the Lynx back-to-back Commissioner’s Cup titles.
At her best, McDonald provides something the Lynx don’t have an abundance of off the bench: game-changing speed. She can pressure the ball, force turnovers, attack gaps in the defense and create for teammates. She would give Reeve another ball handler behind Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams just as it began to look like Maya Caldwell may have been carrying all of those backup guard minutes come playoff time.
McDonald also arrives with some locker room connections. She played alongside Natasha Howard in Indiana last season and with Nia Coffey during her time with the Atlanta Dream.
The fit isn’t flawless. McDonald is a 32% career three-point shooter, and at 5-foot-6, she surrenders size against bigger backcourts. But the Lynx aren’t asking her to rescue their season or carry the offense. If healthy, she just needs to provide useful minutes, defensive pressure and another way to change the tempo of a playoff game.
However, that “if healthy” is the key part.
McDonald’s 2025 season ended Aug. 7 when she fractured a bone in her right foot. She returned to competition with Breeze BC during the 2026 Unrivaled season, but played only six minutes before suffering what was described as another right lower-extremity injury. She was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the Unrivaled season.
It was never publicly clarified whether that injury was connected to the foot fracture. McDonald hasn’t appeared in a WNBA game in 13 months, and the Lynx haven’t provided details about her present condition or readiness to play.
Signing her indicates that the Lynx saw enough in their evaluation to believe the upside justified the move. However, that doesn’t guarantee she’ll immediately be the same player that came in and stabilized the Fever backcourt last summer.
Why Joklová Was the Roster Casualty
Joklová’s release may feel a little jarring based on its timing.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old guard put up 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals for Czechia in a World Cup loss to China. Through her first two games in Berlin, Joklová was averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, three assists and 2.5 steals.
Those performances showed why Minnesota has invested time in her development. At 6-foot, Joklová brings unusual size to the guard position, and Reeve praised her toughness during training camp.
But her role with the Lynx never approached the one she holds for Czechia.
Joklová appeared in 21 WNBA games and averaged 1.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.1 assists in 5.3 minutes. She cycled from a training camp contract to a developmental deal, then through three seven-day contracts before signing a rest-of-season hardship contract in August. The Lynx clearly saw enough to keep her around, but never enough to place her in the regular rotation. When she did get in, Reeve always seemed to have her minutes on a pretty short leash and was often quick to pull her after a turnover or missed defensive assignment.
Waiving Joklová doesn’t necessarily mean the Lynx have given up on their investment in her becoming a productive WNBA player. It means that, with the playoffs approaching, they valued McDonald’s demonstrated WNBA skills more than Joklová’s long-term potential.
Joklová could conceivably return on a developmental contract after clearing waivers, although Minnesota currently has both developmental spots occupied by Elena Buenavida and Liatu King. Creating room for Joklová would require the Lynx to part with one of the two, and developmental players are ineligible for postseason competition. Such a move would therefore be an investment in Joklová’s future rather than an attempt to strengthen the current playoff roster.
Minnesota is 31-9 overall, but entered the break on consecutive losses to the Valkyries and Dream, missing two opportunities to secure the No. 1 seed. With four games remaining and the postseason beginning Sept. 27, every roster spot has to be evaluated based on what it can provide during a championship run.
Joklová was unlikely to play meaningful playoff minutes. A healthy McDonald might.
That is what makes the move low-risk and potentially high-reward. If McDonald can’t regain her previous form, the Lynx have sacrificed little from their current rotation. If she can, they’ve added a proven playmaker and disruptive defender without touching their core.
Joklová still has a WNBA future, perhaps even in Minnesota. But with a championship within reach, the Lynx went and got a player they believe might be able to help finish the job.
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