Potential 2026 NBA Draft Pick Suffers Torn Meniscus, Could Miss Entire Season

The 2026 NBA Draft class may have taken a hit on Wednesday.

According to Chris Haynes, USC incoming freshman Alijah Arenas suffered a torn meniscus and could be forced to sit out his entire freshman season.

Despite being a five-star prospect, it is unlikely that Arenas would enter the 2026 NBA Draft if he does miss the 2025-26 campaign.

Even if the Chatsworth (CA) product is able to return late in the season, Arenas could wait another year to enter the draft to fully recover and put a better season of film on tape for NBA scouts.

Of course, there have been players like Michael Porter Jr., who saw very limited action in college but still ended up as a lottery pick.

Time will tell what Arenas chooses for his future, but if the Trojans' wing doesn't enter the 2026 class, it could open a first round spot for another prospect.

In a recent projection from NBA Draft on SI , Arenas was selected at No.

17 overall by the Detroit Pistons, coming in ahead of players like Tahaad Pettiford, Boogie Fland and Darius Acuff.

Listed at 6-foot-6 and 195 pounds, Arenas was rated the No.

10 overall prospect and No.

1 shooting guard in the nation, according to 247Sports.

The McDonald's All-American is a good scorer with impressive positional size and length who had the potential to rise in the draft process if he had a strong freshman season under USC head coach Eric Musselman.

The 2026 draft class is loaded, and should still have plenty of talent at the top of the class, but if Arenas doesn't enter next year, the already lauded 2027 class could add another talented prospect.

Unfortunatly for Arenas, this isn't the first setback he's been faced with in the past four months.

In April, Arenas was in a car accident and was placed in a medically induced coma due to smoke inhilation.

After being released from the hospital a few days later, the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas recovered quickly.

Now, the talented shooting guard will have to overcome another setback, one that will keep him out much longer than a few days.

Still, with a wealth of talent at just 18-years-old, Arenas should be able to return from the injury and eventually earn a place in the NBA Draft.

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This article has been shared from the original article on si, here is the link to the original article.