An NBA Draft Prospect Almost Died After His Uber Got Rear-Ended And Caught Fire

The NBA Draft is just about a month away, and for one prospect, he’s just happy that he’ll live to be part of it.

Former Kansas Jayhawks guard Brannen Greene—who is a fringe prospect and isn’t expected to be chosen during the two-round draft—was involved in a scary, two-car accident in New York City over the weekend while riding in an Uber that exploded following the impact.

According to KU’s official website, Greene’s dad recounted the near-death experience:

“Brannen was trapped inside a car as a (ride-sharing service) passenger following an accident at Major Deegan Expressway, Bronx, N.Y., and 233rd St., after arriving from Los Angeles where he had NBA team workouts,” Jeffrey said. “The car was struck from behind with so much force it immediately went airborne, came down on a guardrail (with Brannen in back seat), went airborne again and caught fire. It exploded no more than five seconds after he escaped through an opening in a shattered window,” Jeff added.

Whoa, talk about scary.

Reports indicated that neither the driver nor the NBA prospect were injured during the wreck, but at least one other passenger in the accident sustained injuries.

Brannen Greene’s dad added just how close to death his son came, per KU’s official site:

“Everything in the car — his phone, his computer, his luggage was burned and destroyed. The police said Brannen should not have survived. He walked away from it with a terrible headache, all-over body aches but for the most part he’s just dealing with mental trauma,” Jeff Greene said. “To think he survived this … he said when the car got hit he felt like he was asleep, dreaming. He said, ‘I could see all this fire and I was getting hot.’ He said, ‘I’ve got to get out. I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t find my seatbelt and the wraps. I got scared. I finally hit it and the seat belt came loose. I jumped out the window and started running. Five seconds later it sounded like a bomb (with car engulfed in flames).’

“He got up and walked to the Sprint store today (after getting ride back to his condo and a long night’s sleep) because he had no way of reaching anybody. He has no broken bones. He’s extremely lucky,” Jeff added.

After realizing what had happened to him, Brannen tweeted this out to show that he was OK.

Glad to hear that this didn’t end differently, because it could have been so much worse.

[H/T Complex]