During his prime, Gilbert Arenas was a walking bucket. He scored a career-high 29.3 points per game in 2006, but the three-time All-Star never averaged over 6 assists per game across a full season despite being a point guard. It seems Arenas wants his son Alijah to be in the same mold.
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The teenager participated in The Damien Classic, a premier high school basketball tournament in California, where he erupted for a tournament-record 56 points yesterday. One would imagine Gil beaming with pride after such a feat. However, his recent social media activity suggests otherwise.
Taking to his X account, Agent Zero re-shared his son’s highlights with a clip of Andre Iguodala passionately expressing disapproval to Andrew Wiggins from the sidelines. Arenas captioned it, “Whenever I see him try to pass [emoji]”.
Whenever I see him try to pass 🤣 pic.twitter.com/5CRjZnpBrG https://t.co/989TJLoSYY
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) December 28, 2024
Despite Gil’s best efforts, Alijah has taken a step forward in his playmaking. The teenager has averaged over 30 points per game during every season of his high school career. And his assists have steadily jumped from 2 per game in his freshman season to 5 per game in his junior year.
The fourth-best recruit in the country showed off his bag against Prescott, scoring with floaters, mid-range pull ups and a high volume of three-pointers in the overtime thriller. However, Prescott’s Uriah Tenette scored 54 points to lead his side to victory against Alijah’s Chatsworth.
But the game showcased the 17-year-old’s proficiency in all three levels of scoring. That justifies why Gil is urging him to keep the ball in his hands. Alijah’s scoring abilities is no surprise as his three-time All-Star father has been training him at an NBA level for years now.
There are no days off in the Arenas household
Gilbert had revealed in an interview that he makes his son get up 400 shots every day before school. That’s excluding his own team practices or shoot-arounds.
“When you are ready to be trained by me, just understand that I’m training you like a pro. I’m not training you like you’re 10, 11, 12,” Arenas had explained on Podcast P.
Gil’s regimen with Alijah begins at 5:30 am every day. The former Wizards guard starts his son’s day off with a mix of strength training and dribbling drills. He explained how the teenager has to drop 20 squats after each exercise to strengthen multiple parts of his body.
“After the first 30 minutes, I’m killing your legs…So, if you dunking, you just gotta be really athletic,” Hibachi added.
Clearly, Arenas’ training routine is paying dividends. Alijah averaged 45 points per game during his run at The Damien Classic and like his father, is confident of his abilities. He recently reclassified to the 2025 recruiting class and is currently ranked as one of the five best players in the country.
Top universities like UCLA, Arizona, Texas and Kansas are all reportedly on the prowl for Alijah’s signature. And with performances like these, it’s not hard to see why.
