Freshman Alijah Arenas to withdraw from 2026 NBA draft, return to USC
Southern California guard Alijah Arenas is withdrawing from the 2026 NBA draft and will return for his sophomore season with the Trojans. The decision comes after a challenging freshman year marked by injury and recovery from a car crash. Arenas, a five-star recruit and son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, played only part of the season following knee surgery. He averaged 14.1 points per game and is expected to benefit from a full offseason of training.
- ▪Alijah Arenas is withdrawing from the 2026 NBA draft to return to USC for his sophomore season.
- ▪He averaged 14.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in his freshman year, despite missing the first 18 games due to knee surgery.
- ▪Arenas, a top-10 national recruit, was hospitalized after a car crash before undergoing surgery in July 2025.
- ▪He is the son of three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas.
- ▪USC is adding several high-ranked recruits and transfer portal players for the upcoming season.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/freshman-alijah-arenas-withdraw-2026-230511123.html","headline":"Freshman Alijah Arenas to withdraw from 2026 NBA draft, return to USC","datePublished":"2026-04-28T23:05:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T23:05:11.000Z","keywords":["Alijah Arenas","Eric Musselman","Gilbert Arenas","sophomore season","Jordan Richard","Southern California","USC Men's Basketball","NBA"],"description":"Southern California guard Alijah Arenas is withdrawing from the 2026 NBA draft and returning to the program for his sophomore season.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Yahoo…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Yahoo Sports.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Yahoo Sports
