Reports that JJ Redick’s home was lost to the ongoing wildfire in Pacific Palisades are true, the Los Angeles Lakers head coach confirmed Friday, admitting he hasn’t ‘wept or wailed like that in several years.’
The first-year head coach opened up about the devastation with reporters on Friday.
‘I was not prepared for what I saw,’ Redick said. ‘It’s complete devastation and destruction. I had to go a different way to the house, but I went through most of the village, and it’s all gone. I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for something like that. Our home is gone.’
Redick said the rented home burned down Tuesday while the Lakers were on the road in Dallas. Redick’s wife, Chelsea, and their two sons were safely away from the neighborhood, but Redick drove into Pacific Palisades on Wednesday to see the fire’s impact.
As he explained, the family didn’t just lose a home, but decades of cherished memories.
‘Everything that we owned that was of any importance to us in almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years of parenting was in that house,’ Redick said. ‘There’s certain things that you can’t replace, that will never be replaced.
JJ Redick confirmed the reports he and his family lost their rented home in Pacific Palisades
In this aerial view taken from a helicopter, homes burn on Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades fire in Malibu on Thursday. Redick and his family rented a home in the area
‘The material stuff is whatever. My family and I were processing the self side, the individual side, of losing your home, and you don’t ever want to wish that on anybody. It’s an awful feeling to lose your home.’
Redick got emotional at times while contemplating the fate of a neighborhood that had embraced his family since Redick became the Lakers’ head coach last summer. A recreation center where Redick spent time with his sons and was preparing to coach them in a basketball league is completely gone, along with nearly everything else.
The Redick family was renting the home in Pacific Palisades while they decided where to settle permanently in Los Angeles.
Redick is back at work with the Lakers, who aren’t 100-percent certain they will play the visiting San Antonio Spurs as scheduled on Saturday night.
The Lakers’ home game against Charlotte on Thursday was postponed, as was a home game in the same downtown arena between the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and Calgary on Wednesday.
While the Kings have left town on a lengthy road trip, the Lakers were slated to open a five-game homestand with their visit from the Hornets. They host San Antonio on Saturday and Monday, followed by visits from Miami on Wednesday and Brooklyn on Jan. 17.
Redick and Lakers guard Austin Reaves both said the team hopes to play because of the chance to provide a distraction and fun for an exhausted city.
‘It’s been sad, because this is my fourth year here, and LA has showed me nothing but love since Day One when I got here,’ Reaves said.
‘I was telling my people a couple of months ago that I see myself here forever after basketball, living here just because I enjoy it so much. Seeing the pictures, seeing the videos, it’s just sad. People having to leave their homes, the Palisades burning to the ground, it’s just a tragedy. It’s a sad time, but I know we’ll get through it because LA is such a great place.’
A Firefighter inspects a burned house from the Palisades Fire on Friday in Los Angeles
The NFL has already moved the Los Angeles Rams’ wild-card playoff game against Minnesota to Glendale, Arizona, making the decision four full days before the Monday night contest. The Los Angeles Chargers play Saturday in Houston after practicing in the smoky haze earlier in the week.
The Los Angeles Clippers are also entering a homestand in Inglewood, a short walk from the Rams’ SoFi Stadium. They’re scheduled to host the Hornets on Saturday, Miami on Monday and Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Lakers star Anthony Davis has donated $20,000 to a team staffer’s GoFundMe page after his family home was destroyed in the southern California wildfires.
Team videographer Rohan Ali started the donation page on Thursday night, sharing his parents, Gayle and Rasheed Ali, lost their home in the Eaton fire.
Within 19 hours of the page’s creation with an $80,000 goal, the total had climbed to more than $49,000 by midday Friday.
Davis’ donation took care of one-fourth of the goal by himself, with teammate Jarred Vanderbilt also pitching in $4,000.
