Alijah Arenas (born March 16, 2007) is an American

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 who currently attends

Chatsworth High School Chatsworth Charter High School is a charter secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S. History The campus was built with one-story buildings around a central quad as land was inexpensive ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Early life and high school

Arenas was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

and grew up in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of

. He attends

. He averaged 33 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Arenas reclassified midway through his junior year from the class of 2026 to the class of 2025. He was selected to play in the 2025 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. Arenas was rated a consensus five-star recruit in both the 2026 class and the 2025 class after his reclassification. He committed to play

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 ...

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

over offers from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Personal life

Arenas is the son of former NBA All-Star

Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Jay Arenas Jr. ( ; born January 6, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Arenas attended Grant High School in the Valley Glen district of Los Angeles, and accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Arizona l ...

. On April 24, 2025, it was reported that Arenas was involved in a serious car crash and was hospitalized and placed into an induced coma. According to a

Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides firefighting services and technical rescue services, hazardous materials services, and emergency medical services to the residents of the city of Los Angeles, California, United ...

public information officer, officials responded to a call at 4:55 a.m. after a

Tesla Cybertruck The Tesla Cybertruck is a battery-electric full-size pickup truck manufactured by Tesla, Inc. since 2023. It was first unveiled as a prototype in November 2019, featuring a distinctive angular design composed of flat, unpainted stainless stee ...

crashed into a tree/fire hydrant with fire involved. The LAFD did not identify the person involved but said that the 18-year-old driver was out of the vehicle and that he was transported to the hospital in serious condition. Sources confirmed that Arenas was involved in the crash and told ESPN that initial tests showed he did not suffer broken bones. On July 23rd, 2025, it was announced that Arenas suffered a torn meniscus and is expected to miss at least 6-8 months.

References

2007 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Oakland, California Basketball players from Los Angeles Chatsworth High School alumni Children of basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Shooting guards {{US-basketball-bio-stub