It has been nearly two weeks since Alijah Arenas was involved in a serious car accident in the Los Angeles area, and Gilbert Arenas shared some new updates about his son on Tuesday.
Gilbert said during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” that Alijah is “doing very well” and on the path to a full recovery. The former NBA star said his 18-year-old son was very fortunate to have avoided serious injuries.
Gilbert also revealed that Alijah was trapped inside the car for more than 10 minutes, which is why the high schooler needed to be placed into a medically induced coma.
“My thing was making sure there was no broken limbs, there was no burns,” Gilbert said. “Lucky for him, trapped inside of a car for so long, it’s lucky there were bystanders that heard the crash that early in the morning that got him out.
“He was a little stronger than (the doctors) thought and he was waking up going crazy, so they put him in an induced coma just to get the air and smoke and all of that out of his system. I guess he was in the car, it looked like, about 10-12 minutes just inhaling that.”
Gilbert Arenas shared an update on his son, 5-star USC commit Alijah Arenas, following a car accident 2 weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/O9LEZV5cGl
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) May 6, 2025
Alijah was driving in the Los Angeles, Calif., area early on the morning of April 24 when he crashed his Tesla Cybertruck into a fire hydrant and slammed into a tree. He had to be rescued from the vehicle, but the new information Gilbert shared indicates that Alijah was inside the car for quite some time before being pulled out.
The Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly determined that the accident was caused by excessive speed.
Some photos that circulated on social media showed Alijah’s car looking extremely mangled. The front passenger side wheel of the Cybertruck had come off, some airbags were deployed and the side windows had to be broken. There was also a video from an eyewitness that provided some perspective of the frightening scene.
Alijah is a five-star prospect and already viewed as a likely NBA player. The California prep standout had announced in January his intention to play collegiately at USC. He had also landed a high-profile endorsement deal before even starting his college career.
Fortunately, it does not sound like the accident is going to have any long-term impact on Alijah’s health.
