BIOGRAPHY
Trevor Ariza was born on June 30, 1985, in Miami, Florida. He is a small forward in the NBA.
Ariza's stepfather, Kenny McClary, played at the University of Florida in the mid to late 1980s, and professionally with the Sydney Kings in Australia.
Ariza is of Turks & Caicos Islands and Dominican descent through his grandfather Osvaldo Ariza (a Turks and Caicos Islander of Dominican descent), and his parents, Lolita Ariza and Trevor Saunders of Grand Turk. Ariza once considered changing his citizenship to play for the Dominican Republic national basketball team. However, he later accepted an invitation to the Team USA training camp.
Ariza attended Westchester High School in Los Angeles, where as a junior in 2001–02, he combined with teammates and fellow future NBA players Hassan Adams, Brandon Heath, and Bobby Brown to lead the Comets to the California State championship. Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Ariza was listed as the No. 5 power forward and the No. 18 player in the nation in 2003.
As a freshman at UCLA in 2003–04, Ariza played in 25 games (23 starts) and averaged 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and a team-high 1.7 steals. He subsequently earned All-Pac 10 Freshman Team honors. He declared for the NBA Draft following his freshman campaign at UCLA.
Ariza was selected by the New York Knicks in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2004 NBA draft. He played in 80 games during his rookie campaign with New York and averaged 5.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. At the time, he became the youngest player to ever wear a Knicks uniform (19 years, four months and four days old). His 80 games and 1,382 minutes were the most played by a Knicks rookie since Greg Anthony in 1991–92 (82 games played).
In February 2006, Ariza was traded along with Penny Hardaway to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Steve Francis. After the trade, he played in 21 games and averaged 4.7 points per game. In the 2006–07 season he played in 57 games and started in 7, averaging a career high 8.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
In November 2007, Ariza was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans. In 2009, The Lakers went on to win their 15th NBA title. Ariza averaged a career-high 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds and shot 50% from three-point range in the playoffs.
On July 3, 2009, Ariza reached an agreement with the Houston Rockets worth $33 million over five years. In the Rockets' final game of the season, Ariza recorded his first career triple-double, tallying 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.
On August 11, 2010, Ariza was traded to the New Orleans Hornets as part of a four-team, five-player trade. During the 2011 NBA playoffs, Ariza logged career highs in minutes per game (40.2), points per game (15.5) rebounds (6.5) and assists (3.3). The Hornets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games in the first round.
Ariza would go on to be a key component with Rockets (second stint), Suns, and Wizards (second stint) before signing with the Sacramento Kings in 2019.
On August 6, 2021, Ariza signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a 1-year deal worth $2,641,691.
