Rising to the top is one thing, but clawing back after losing your footing is much more difficult. Following a life-altering moment, a former NBA legend is now using his experience to ensure his son doesn’t drift off the path. And he is doing so while keeping it real with his prospect.

Well, the duo in question is none other than former NBA star Gilbert Arenas and his son, USC Trojans’ star Alijah Arenas. The 18-year-old arrived on the college basketball scene as one of the hottest prospects, doing everything to emulate his father’s journey, only to suffer one bad incident after another, which halted his progress. Following this shaky start to his hoops career, Arenas had a man-to-man with his son.

“So, after the car accident, it’s like, ‘Hey man, slow down a little bit,'”Arenas revealed recently while speaking on the Hoopin’ N Hollerin’ podcast.

“Cut out some of these bad these I call it bad energy, things out of your life. You can’t have a girlfriend and a career right now. You can’t have a girlfriend. You can’t have these friends. There are five things that’s grabbing your attention. You’ve got to cut them out until it’s 100% basketball.”

Alijah, who was one of the top prospects from his class, suffered a devastating car accident that put him in a medically induced coma for a while. And when he soon returned to the court, he tore the right meniscus. This further pushed back his college debut and availability for major events, prompting Gilbert Arenas to take matters into his own hands.

Arenas felt that his son was trying to sail too many ships at once and needed to focus on basketball. And while his advice of cutting off people might seem harsh at first, it was needed.

Gilbert Arenas reveals the truth behind his son Alijah’s debut struggles

Following a much-needed reality check by his father, Alijah Arenas put his head down to recover from his meniscus injury. And it finally paid off late in January when he got to make his debut for the USC Trojans, with his dad watching proudly. However, his debut didn’t quite go as planned. In 29 minutes, Alijah scored eight points, with two rebounds and two assists, missing all six 3-pointers and only shooting 3-of-15 from the field.

While, at the moment, everyone thought he was just rusty coming off a long hiatus, that wasn’t entirely the case. “Like, people don’t realize that after the McDonald’s all-American game, he never played five and five again until his first game in college,” Arenas stated.

“So, there was no practicing. There was no five-on-five practice with the team,” he continued. “He had to try to get in shape, do all that rehab. Got cleared to practice, but there’s no five-on-five practice. So now I’ve got to try to get his a-s in shape, right? But it’s not game style.”

Nonetheless, once he was able to get in some real reps on the court, Alijah was right at home. Ever since his debut, the 18-year-old has only gotten better and has now suited up in 14 games for the Trojans, averaging a solid 14.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists.