Gilbert Arenaa former NBA player manages a family crisis after his son Aliya Arena I was involved in a car accident in late April 2025. As a rising basketball star, sports fans expressed concern about Alijah’s condition, particularly after reporting that multiple outlets were placed in induced coma.
ESPN’s Shamschalania was the one who broke the story by tweeting that University of Southern California commit Alijah “was caught up in a serious car accident early on Thursday morning, hospitalized and led into a coma.”
Below, let’s learn about his family, Aliya, his family and how he is doing after the car accident in April 2025.
Who is Aliya Arena?
In addition to being Gilbert’s son, Alijah created his name in the world of basketball. He has pledged to play for the USC Trojan horse this year after graduating from high school.
Talk to Sports illustration included In an interview released on April 3, 2025, Alija pointed out, “There’s more to life than you can actually get from basketball and basketball. My goal is to open a lot of doors (in life) through basketball.”
“I’m just a guy who likes to laugh and have fun. That’s what I mean,” explained the young athlete. “No matter where I am… I just want to make everyone smile.”
How old is Aliya Arena?
As of April 2025, Aliya is 18 years old.
Children at Gilbert Arena
In addition to Aliya, Gilbert is the father of four other children. He shares Aliya, Isela, Hamilly and Aroni with his ex Laura Govan, and NBA legends also share a daughter named Zia with Ex Lindsey Folk.
Like her brother and father, Isela is a skilled basketball player and she has promised to play at the University of Louisville.
Aliya shouted the sisters in an interview in April 2025 Comes with sports illustrations. After calling his mother Laura “very special” and “very supportive,” USC’s commit pointed out that his sister was “very extroverted” like him.
What happened to Aliya Arena?
On April 24, 2024, Alija crashed the Tesla Cybertruck just before 5am local time in Los Angeles. TMZ. The outlet reported that the first responder had to rescue a “confined patient,” but when they arrived at the scene, everyone in the car had already made it up. Tesla was “mangled” and Aliya was “seriously in a state of affairs” and had to rush to the hospital. TMZ.
Upon reaching the hospital, Alija was placed under the guided coma. It is still unknown if any other person is in Aliya during the car crash.
At the time of publication, no one from the Arenas family publicly commented on Alija’s car accident or his condition.
What is induced coma?
Medically induced coma is a temporary coma in which a patient is placed with anesthesia sedatives to relieve pain and injury.