The primary time Trevor Ariza observed his son was completely different was in a fourth-grade basketball sport. After breaking down a poor 8-year-old with a single transfer, Tajh Ariza drove into the paint and kicked the rock out to an open shooter with a seamless behind-the-back cross. “The timing was excellent. It was in stride. It was only a excellent cross,” Trevor says.
It’s a typical sunny day on the west aspect of L.A. and Trevor, Tajh and Tristan Ariza are attempting to see who can hit a half-court shot first. It’s been two years for the reason that NBA champion and L.A. native retired, and immediately, he’s again on the campus the place his basketball dominance started. Besides Trevor’s not the one in his outdated white, pink and black threads. His oldest son, Tajh, is.
Tajh is at the moment one of many prime 16-year-olds within the nation, and are available subsequent fall, he’ll be working the gambit on the identical courtroom his dad did. After ending the basketball season at St. Bernard HS, Tajh quickly after transferred to Westchester this spring.
Inside the college’s gymnasium, Tajh stands at halfcourt surrounded by a sea of pink, black and white, from the “Comets” branded bleachers and partitions to the shades of his dad’s authentic No. 4 house jersey that he’s sporting. The light banners showcasing Trevor’s two state titles with the Comets hold proudly as father and son pose for flicks. Even on this second, Trevor’s affect is ever-present. It’s surrounded Tajh since he was a child, dribbling round with Kobe and Derek Fisher. Sure, he’s the son of an NBA participant. However Tajh Ariza’s sport is solely his personal.
“I gotta hold placing in work daily,” Tajh says. “, my dad [had a] nice profession, however I wish to have my very own title and present folks like, Oh, I wish to be like him, you realize? So I simply gotta hold working so I can get there.”
The 6-8 rising junior exploded on the recruiting circuit and is now thought of top-10 within the class of 2026. After his freshman yr, he held simply three main DI provides. Within the span of 5 months final yr, he racked up 5 extra. This previous spring he obtained an invitation to USA Junior Nationwide Minicamps, and over the summer time he was taking part in up with Crew Why Not 17U on the EYBL circuit. Issues are simply clickin’.
However the path wasn’t so simply laid out. Trevor let Tajh discover his personal love for the sport. He didn’t push, he didn’t nudge; he sat again and watched his son uncover their now shared ardour.
“My thought for him was all the time proper earlier than he received to highschool, if he was severe about it, I’d give him all of the instruments that I exploit or the issues that I realized to assist him. So I’d say when he received severe—about desirous to get higher or truly work at basketball—was going into the ninth grade,” Trevor says.
Tajh agrees. He liked the sport, however there’s an enormous distinction between loving to play and loving one thing sufficient to commit your self to five a.m. exercises, two-a-days and a grueling 82-game season.
“I needed to change my habits. Earlier than possibly center faculty, I didn’t actually take it as critically. It was simply enjoyable for me I assume. After all, it’s nonetheless enjoyable,” Tajh says, “however now I see that I’ve an actual probability at what I wish to do and be nice. And I simply stored going. I simply took it.
Proper earlier than Tajh entered his freshman yr, Trevor laid out what it could appear like for his son to succeed in his highest potential. It ended with a mushy but delicate reminder: It’s time to kick it into the following gear. “I sat down with him and informed him that it’s not gonna be enjoyable. Numerous the time, it’s not gonna be straightforward. It’s gonna take a number of sacrifice. And most youngsters, after they hear sacrifice or take away enjoyable or free time, they type of shrink back from issues. Fortunate for me, he needed to do it. So it was straightforward,” Trevor says.
Within the yr since, Tajh and Trevor have constructed out a devoted plan. At the least thrice per week earlier than faculty, they both raise or grind by sand drills with Trevor’s outdated Hoop Masters teammate. Working within the mushy sand of L.A.’s seashores is taxing, exhausting, unnerving—all of the above. However his explosiveness has taken off. “I began dunking on folks, in order that’s after I observed that it began serving to,” Tajh says. Off the courtroom, he’s finding out the methods bigger guards like Paul George and Brandon Miller create area off the bounce.
After a bathe, breakfast and college, Tajh will hit whichever program they didn’t do within the morning earlier than heading to the courtroom for myriad of taking pictures and ballhandling drills. From the gymnasium to the sand dunes, Trevor is true there together with his son.
Tajh’s dedication is persistent, a mixture of witnessing the skilled traits of his dad’s profession and the desire to carve out his personal legacy. Getting up at 5:30 a.m. to run in continually shifting sand is as a lot of a psychological exercise as it’s a bodily one. Whereas Tajh embraces the outcomes of his work, Trevor views it as a mile marker for a way far his son has come since their freshman yr dialog.
“It’s straightforward, for him particularly being so younger, to get the eye that he’s getting and type of, like, be complacent and caught in that. And my message to him is all the time simply put your head down and give attention to the work that you simply put in,” Trevor says. “Give attention to the hours that you simply’re placing in, within the gymnasium, within the sand, watching the sport, studying the sport, simply give attention to that. All the things else will handle itself.”
When he moved from North Carolina to L.A. to attend Saint Bernard HS as a sophomore, Tajh says the speak round his sport remained comparatively quiet other than the attract of his final title. That was till the start of the season when he obtained his first two provides from the College of Washington and USC. He’s nonetheless received the response video on his telephone. “I used to be so excited. I used to be leaping up and down, yelling. It felt good to lastly get, you realize, what I felt like I deserved. But it surely additionally simply motivated me to maintain going. [To] simply carry on stacking on that,” Tajh says.
Witnessing that pleasure in his personal kin is a delight solely a guardian can expertise. On the similar time, Trevor has come to curtail his recommendation even after an 18-year profession within the L that featured a 2009 championship with the Lakers and stops with 10 completely different organizations. The steering he supplies his sons is commonly rooted within the steps that he took in his journey to the NBA. And identical to their video games are completely different, so are the choices and choices accessible to them.
As Tajh prepares to enter his junior season and his youthful brother, Tristan, will get set to begin faculty, too, Trevor is aware of he can’t assume the roles of coach, dad and instructor all of sudden. He needs to be selective and aware of the hats he wears, and when he wears them.
“If there’s per week the place I’m heavy on, like, Clear up your room or Take the trash out. What number of instances I gotta inform you to take the trash out? I gotta ease up on what’s happening on the courtroom, as a result of I’m laborious on them at house,” Trevor says.
If Tajh is caring for enterprise at house, Trevor will drop some extra information. “However once more, it’s his canvas. So he has to color it the best way he sees it. I can solely tweak little issues or give him little nuggets till he involves me for large issues.”
Large issues like transferring to your dad’s alma mater.
As he appears up on the banners positioned by his dad many years in the past, Tajh can really feel the goal on his again increasing. Academics are already flooding him with reminiscences of the college’s previous legendary battles with crosstown rival Fairfax. However the noise is simply that: noise. And as his dad walks down the halls that he as soon as occupied, he is aware of Tajh is able to totally stroll into his personal.
“I feel for Tajh, he’s all the time been round it. So, it’s nearly like second nature,” Trevor says. “He’s been across the atmosphere since he may stroll, since he may speak. It’s tailor-made for him. Some children are born to do sure issues. And to me, in my eyes, I really feel like he’s a type of children that was simply born to be on this area.”
Portraits by Sam Muller.
