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Gilbert Arenas' son Alijah has spoken publicly for the first time about the car crash that left him in a coma, with the 18-year-old blaming his Tesla Cybertruck for the fiery wreck.
Back in April, the rising basketball star was placed in an induced coma after his Tesla hit a tree, burst into flames and was left 'mangled' on the side of the road in Los Angeles.
Arenas - whose father was a three-time NBA All-Star - was rescued from the burning car after someone heard 'banging on the car window'. They were unable to see anything 'because the smoke was so thick.'
The 18-year-old committed to USC in January and on Tuesday he opened up on the horrific incident, admitting he was 'very lucky'. 'God has his miracles. Everybody has miracles,' Arenas Jr. said.
The teen explained that he was leaving a shooting session at a gym in Chatsworth, California, when his Cybertruck malfunctioned.
'The wheel wasn't moving as easy as it should, and me noticing the keypad wasn't on, it was weirding me out,' Arenas said.
Alijah Arenas describes for the first time publicly how the steering wheel of his Tesla Cybertruck locked up and led to his fiery April wreck in Reseda.
“The wheel wasn’t responding like I was in the car,” Arenas said pic.twitter.com/OUb2bBacfT
Gilbert Arenas' son has spoken for the first time about the car crash that left him in a coma
Alijah, pictured with his father, was placed into an induced coma after the crash on April 24
He revealed that he had soon switched lanes without noticing. That left him thinking: 'Wait, something is wrong... next thing you know, I can't get back to the left'.
The teen decided to pull over and so he 'sped up' to make his way into a nearby neighborhood. 'And when I'm speeding up to turn, I can't stop,' he continued.
'So the wheel is not responding to me as if I'm not physically in there. So all I remember was feeling pressure. I remember a light passing me, I look and see it's a car going by.
'I look back in front of me and I'm on my way to the curb. I get on the curb and all I remember is just pressure. I wake up in the car after about three minutes.
'I saw from the camera feed that the car had caught fire on impact. So Teslas are a little different... my first thought, waking up, I kind of assumed I was home.
'Nothing registered. I had heard cracking noises like I was at a camp fire... I woke up from yawning.'
Arenas also opened up on the Good Samaritans who saved his life, revealing that he invited them over to his family home.
Harrowing footage from the incident showed Alijah lying face down in a huge puddle of water, after his vehicle had barreled over a fire hydrant and hit a nearby tree.
Arenas, 43, is seen talking to his son during halftime of a basketball game in March 2024
One of his heroes, Arenas discovered, worked at the UCLA medical office. 'Amazing people,' he said.
'For me, that was just God sent... I can't ask for anything less or anything more. God has his miracles. Everybody has miracles. I'm very lucky... I don't even have words to express how I feel about my life right now.'
TMZ previously reported that investigators did not see any signs of intoxication in Arenas Jr. after he was pulled from the burning car.
But his father put out a warning following the crash: 'If you're a parent and your teen has this car, you might want to put a hammer in that joint.'
Alijah did not break any bones in the accident, according to ESPN , though he did inhale a significant amount of smoke.
