High School

5-star basketball recruit Tajh Ariza transfers to St. John Bosco

Son of former NBA player Trevor Ariza is leaving his dad's former high school to attend state powerhouse with two more 5-star standouts

Mitch Stephens

Tajh Ariza (right) embraces a teammate during the City finals.
Tajh Ariza (right) embraces a teammate during the City finals. / Tarek Fattal

One of the nation's most coveted junior basketball players has transferred between Southern California schools.

Tajh Ariza, a 6-foot-9 junior forward and five-star recruit, will play next season at St. John Bosco, which already blessed with two more 2026 5-stars in Brandon McCoy and Christian Collins.

In fact, as hard as it is to fathom, Ariza now be on the third-best player on his high school roster. He's ranked the No. 4 player nationally in the 2026 class by 247Sports, while McCoy and Collins ranked No. 2 and 3.

As first reported by long time Southern California journalist Frank Burlison, Ariza has left Westchester, where led the Comets (24-10) to a Los Angeles City Section championship and was named the section's co-player of the Year.

According to reports, he's already attending classes at St. John Bosco, which finished 26-7 last season, losing in the Southern Section Open Division finals to eventual state champion Roosevelt.

The son of former NBA player Trevor Ariza, Tajh has 11 college offers, including Kentucky, Kansas, USC and UCLA.

The trio of Ariza, McCoy and Collins should be lethal. An athletic department known for its nationally recognized football program might reach that level now in basketball. Certainly its 2025-26 team now looks like a national contender.

McCoy is a 6-4 junior guard who has 21 college offers including UCLA, Duke, Michigan, Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn.

Collins, a 6-8 junior, has 15 offers including Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, UCLA and Kansas.

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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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