Find out about Kentucky’s newest offer to recruits in the class of 2026.

The Kentucky Wildcats are now definitely in the running to sign Alijah Arenas, a top-2026 shooting guard who is the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas.

Arenas, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall, is famous all over the country for how well he scores and how hard he plays offence.

A machine for scoring

It was amazing how many points Arenas scored in a game last year at Chatsworth Charter High School in Los Angeles. He averaged 33. The fact that he makes 49% of his field goal attempts shows that he can score from anywhere on the ground. Arenas is currently ranked No. 4 overall in the 2026 class by Rivals, which shows that Kentucky sees how talented he is and wants to sign him.

The atmosphere is important to arenas

Several top schools are interested in Arenas, but Kentucky’s passionate fans could give them an edge. Arenas stressed how important a program’s energy is when he talked to On3 about his hiring:

“For college, the vibe and the people are pretty much the most important things to me.” That really helps the team.

Rupp Arena’s famous “Big Blue Nation” could be a huge part of his hiring. This year, game days have been very exciting. If that keeps up, it could make a big impression on Arenas as he narrows down his options during the recruiting process.

The Arizona Thing

It’s clear that Kentucky is interested in Arenas, but his recruitment may come down to a battle with Arizona, where his father played and became famous.

The Wildcats from Tucson have close ties to the Arenas family, which means that Kentucky head coach Mark Pope will have to be very careful in this game.

Link to California

Arenas is the fifth player from California in the 2026 class to get an offer from Kentucky. This shows how serious the Wildcats are about draughting top West Coast players. If they can get Arenas, it will be another big step forward in their quest to build a team with national star power. Getting people from Golden State to join the team is mostly up to Jason Hart.

There is also a younger Arenas that you should keep an eye on.

Fans of Kentucky will be paying close attention to this heated recruitment as it happens. Alijah Arenas wants to join Big Blue Nation. Can they win him over and add another future star? We’ll see in time.