Gilbert Arenas opens up about son Alijah's Cybertruck crash, says 5-star recruit was put in coma due to smoke

Yahoo

06-05-2025

Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas provided some key details from the car crash that landed his son, 5-star basketball recruit Alijah Arenas, in a medically induced coma last week.
Appearing on "The Dan Patrick Show," Gilbert confirmed Alijah is "doing very well" with no major injuries, nearly two weeks after he lost control of his Tesla Cybertruck, hit a fire hydrant and slammed into a tree. Alijah is ranked by Rivals as the No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2026 and is currently committed to USC.
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When asked to describe his immediate reaction to learning of the crash early in the morning, Gilbert said he was initially confused due to a malfunction in the Tesla app:
"Usually I wake up at 4:30 and I go through the Tesla app to see if he's heading home or at the gym. His car is at the gym, so I continue my workout and my daughter said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'I'm working out.' She said, 'You haven't heard? Your son just got in an accident.' 'At the gym?' 'No he's at the hospital.'
"I just stopped everything and ran over there and was like 'What the hell's going on? Was it his car? What's going on?' I realized the app actually malfunctioned. I found that out a couple days later when he started waking up."
Alijah was released from the hospital last week and his father said he was on track for a full recovery. While there were no major injuries, Gilbert said Alijah was placed in the coma due to the smoke he inhaled while trapped inside the Cybertruck for at least 10 minutes.
Despite the early hour, a group of bystanders, described by Gilbert as "angels," reportedly heard the crash and managed to get Alijah out of the Cybertruck, which features electronic doors without traditional handles.
"My thing was making sure there were no broken limbs, there were no burns. 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 they thought. He was waking up going crazy, so they put him in an induced coma just to get the air ... They were getting the smoke and all of that out of his [lungs]. I guess he was in the car, it looked like about 10, 12 minutes ... Just inhaling that."
Tesla's website features an explainer on how to open the Cybertruck's doors when there's no power, but only from the inside. It's unclear if that was the situation last month, but photos from the scene showed the car's front to be completely wrecked.
Gilbert mentioned Alijah still had a sense of humor while recovering. Upon learning he had woken up from the coma in a hospital under the UCLA umbrella, the Trojans commit reportedly joked about apologizing to USC head coach Eric Musselman:
"Tell Mus I'm sorry I'm at UCLA."
Alijah recently finished his junior season at Chatsworth High School in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. The 6-foot-6 guard received offers from power programs including Kansas, Kentucky and Alabama but opted to stay home with USC in a decision announced in January. He is the only member of Rivals' top 10 in 2026 to be committed to a school.