Trevor Ariza

Trevor Anthony Ariza (born June 30, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player, who spent 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

His 80 games and 1,382 minutes were the most played by a Knicks rookie since Greg Anthony in 1991–92 (82 games played).

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.

He played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins before being selected in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft by the New York Knicks.

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).

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 for the rest of the season.

In the 2006–07 season he played in 57 games and started in 7.

he averaged 8.9 points along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists.

In November 2007, Ariza was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Brian Cook and Maurice Evans.

He fractured a bone in his right foot in January 2008, but made his return in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs in late May, scoring a basket within his first minute of play.

The Lakers went on to defeat the Spurs in 5 games and advance to the 2008 NBA Finals, but lost to the Boston Celtics in 6 games.

In the 2008–09 season, he played in all 82 games, starting 20.

Ariza won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009.

He also played for the Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets, Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers, and Miami Heat.

Ariza was ejected during a game against Portland on March 9, 2009, following a flagrant foul on Rudy Fernández.

On March 15, 2009 versus the Dallas Mavericks, Ariza scored a career-high 26 points along with 3 steals, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

After becoming a starter, he began to show more ability on defense.

In the playoffs, Ariza scored a playoff career-high 21 points in Game 1 of the first round against Utah Jazz.

In the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, Ariza stole an inbound pass from Chauncey Billups in Game 1 to help Lakers beat the Nuggets.

In Game 3, the Lakers led by two points with 37.1 seconds remaining when Ariza stole Kenyon Martin's pass to Carmelo Anthony near midcourt to help Lakers take a 2–1 lead.

The Lakers eventually won the series 4–2, sending them to the NBA Finals against the Orlando Magic.

In Game 4 of the Finals, Ariza, who was 0-for-6 in the first half, scored 13 in the third quarter to help the Lakers win in overtime and finished the game with nine rebounds and three 3-pointers.

On July 3, 2009, Ariza reached an agreement with the Houston Rockets worth $33 million over five years.

Ariza was signed using the Disabled Player Exception the Rockets were granted for injured center Yao Ming.

On October 31, 2009, against the Portland Trail Blazers, Ariza scored a career high 33 points in a 111–107 Rockets win.

On December 13, 2009, Ariza was ejected after he attempted to punch DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors after having the ball stolen by him.

He was subsequently suspended for one game.

On April 14, 2010, 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, with Darren Collison and James Posey going to the Indiana Pacers, Troy Murphy to the New Jersey Nets, and Courtney Lee to Houston.

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.

The Lakers went on to win their 15th NBA title in five games, 4–1.

Ariza averaged a career-high 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds and shot 50% from three-point range in the playoffs.