USC freshman Alijah Arenas might miss the entire 2025-26 season after suffering a torn meniscus, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Arenas, a 5-star recruit, was the No. 7 overall player and top-ranked shooting guard in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2025 class.
In April, the 18-year-old was involved in a car crash that resulted in him briefly being placed in a medically induced coma. Doctors released him from the hospital less than a week after the accident and he avoided any major injuries.
Arenas, whose father is three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, was a McDonald’s All-American in his final year at Chatsworth High School in California. He averaged 29.3 points, six rebounds and 3.3 assists in 35 appearances.
Having evaluated Arenas last October, 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein called him “a smooth scoring guard with terrific positional size and length.”
“Arenas is a versatile scoring threat,” Finkelstein wrote. “He doesn’t always separate with his first move, but he’s elite with his secondary moves and has a wide-variety of counters in his bag. He also shoots an easy ball from long-range with soft natural touch, despite dipping his left shoulder and twisting into his release.”
Arenas figured to play a big role for USC as a true freshman, and Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman projected him to be a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
Now, head coach Eric Musselman and Trojans fans may have to wait another year for the dynamic guard to debut.
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