High School

Alijah Arenas car accident update: 'Out of induced coma, recovering while intubated'

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Friday morning that Arenas is out of his medically induced coma and recovering after serious car accident Thursday.

Tarek Fattal

Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth High in Los Angeles, Calif., son of former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, has reclassified to the class of 2025 from 2026.
Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth High in Los Angeles, Calif., son of former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, has reclassified to the class of 2025 from 2026. / Tarek Fattal

There's been another positive update out of the Alijah Arenas camp regarding his recovery after a serious car accident Thursday morning.

The crash resulted in the high school basketball star being hospitalized and put into a medically induced coma after inhaling large amounts of smoke.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported Friday morning at 8:25 a.m. (PT) that Arenas is "now out of his induced coma and making progress in recovery while being intubated."

Intubation is the process of inserting a tube called an endotracheal tube (ET) into the mouth or nose and then into the airway (trachea) to hold it open, according to VeryWellHealth.com.

The Arenas family also issued a statement regarding Arenas' accident and status, which Charania included in his report.

According to the statement, Arenas' first words when coming out of the coma were, "Did anyone get hurt?"

Below is a timeline of reports from ESPN and High School On SI starting Thursday morning ...

THURSDAY

ESPN's Shams Charania reported that 5-star guard Alijah Arenas from Chatsworth High in Southern California was involved in a serious car accident early Thursday morning.

Charania's tweet at 11:22 a.m. reports the crash hospitalized Arenas, 18, and placed him into an induced coma.

Arenas is the son of former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas and is committed to play for USC.

UPDATE ON ARENAS' STATUS

High School On SI was able to find out that Arenas was involved in a car accident while driving a Tesla Cybertruck. The vehicle hit a large tree and fire hydrant before catching fire. Arenas inhaled smoke, which is why he was induced into a coma, according to sources, who say inducing a coma is considered "protocol for smoke inhalation."

Arenas suffered no broken bones or significant bodily injury.

According to police reports, the accident happened just before 5 a.m. Thursday morning.

MORE ON ARENAS

Arenas is a standout high school basketball player that was the first Los Angeles City Section player to reach 3,000 career points, and he did it in just three seasons. He's just the 15th player in California reach that milestone.

The senior guard reclassified from the class of 2026 to this year's 2025 class. Soon after that announcement, he committed to USC to play for Eric Musselman.

Arenas' prolific scoring ability and leadership led Chatsworth to a second straight CIF State final in Sacramento. He was selected to the 2025 McDonald's All-American game and named co-City Player of the Year.

He was also named High School On SI's SoCal Offensive Player of the Year.

Arenas averaged 30.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game this season en route to a City Section Open Division final, CIF State Division II regional title, and the CIF State Division II final.

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Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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