Trevor Ariza is being accused of child abuse by the mother of his 12-year old son, according to TMZ. She’s demanding a restraining order on the child’s behalf, but the Portland Trail Blazers player is denying the allegations. Ariza plans to fight back in court.
TMZ noted that Ariza and the child’s mother, Lana Allen, have been in a longtime custody battle. But Allen recently filed new court documents in Los Angeles which says Ariza has a pattern of domestic violence against the child starting in 2019. The details of the domestic violence are considered graphic, but Ariza is accused of giving corporal punishment at least twice.
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In the documents, Allen said the child “fears” his father and is “not safe in his care.” Ariza has fired back and said it’s Allen who has been alienating him from the child which has lead to a strain in the relationship. A custody trial is set for October.
“What is occurring here is in fact [Ariza’s] abuse of the minor child by her relentless, cruel loyalty conflict for [the child], alienation campaign and selfishly driven attempts to interfere in father and son’s relationship,” Allen said in the court documents. Right now, Ariza has time to focus on his personal issues as the Trail Blazers’ season came to end when they lost the Los Angles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. However, Ariza wasn’t there with his team as he decided to opt-out when the decision was made to finish the season in Orlando during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Man, the word ‘hard’ doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Ariza told ESPN back in August. “This is what I was born to do, to play basketball. I’ve been doing it my whole life. And to know my team has a chance to compete for a championship, and I’m not with them. … It burns me up inside.”
Ariza, 35, has been in the NBA since 2004. He was drafted by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2004 NBA Draft and has seen action with nine different teams in his career. His most notable season was in 2008-2009 when he was a member of the Lakers. He helped the team win the NBA Championship after averaging 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs.
