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 that he hadn't “cried or moaned like that in several years.”
The first-year head coach spoke about the devastation with reporters on Friday.
“I wasn't prepared for what I saw,” Redick said. 'It is complete devastation and destruction. I had to go another way to the house, but I went through most of the town and he was gone. I don't think you can ever prepare for something like that. Our house no longer exists.'
Redick said the rented house burned Tuesday while the Lakers were on the road in Dallas. Redick's wife, Chelsea, and two children were safe in the neighborhood, but Redick drove to Pacific Palisades on Wednesday to see the impact of the fire.
As he explained, the family not only lost a home, but also decades of cherished memories.
“Everything we owned that was important to us in almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years as parents was in that house,” Redick said. 'There are certain things that cannot be replaced, that will never be replaced.
JJ Redick confirmed reports that he and his family lost their rented home in Pacific Palisades.
In this aerial view taken from a helicopter, houses burn on the Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades Fire in Malibu on Thursday. Redick and his family rented a house in the area.
'The material is whatever. My family and I were processing the personal side, the individual side, of losing your home, and you never want to wish that on anyone. It's a horrible feeling to lose your home.
Redick became emotional at times as he contemplated the fate of a neighborhood that had welcomed his family since Redick became the Lakers' head coach last summer. A recreation center where Redick spent time with his children and prepared to coach them in a basketball league completely disappeared, along with almost everything else.
The Redick family was renting the house in Pacific Palisades while they decided where to settle permanently in Los Angeles.
Redick is back working with the Lakers, who are not 100 percent sure 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 at the same downtown arena between the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and Calgary on Wednesday.
While the Kings left town on a long road trip, the Lakers were scheduled to open a five-game homestand with a visit from the Hornets. They will host San Antonio on Saturday and Monday, followed by visits from Miami on Wednesday and Brooklyn on January 17.
Redick and Lakers guard Austin Reaves said the team is looking forward to playing because of the opportunity to provide distraction and fun to an exhausted city.
“It's been sad, because this is my fourth year here, and Los Angeles has shown me nothing but love since the first day 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 photos, seeing the videos, it's just sad. That people have to leave their homes, that the Palisades burns to the ground, is simply a tragedy. “It's a sad time, but I know we'll get through it because Los Angeles is a great place.”
A firefighter inspects a home burned by the Palisades Fire on Friday in Los Angeles.
The NFL has already moved the Los Angeles Rams' wild-card game against Minnesota to Glendale, Arizona, making the decision a full four days before Monday night's game. The Los Angeles Chargers play Saturday in Houston after practicing in fog earlier in the week.
The Los Angeles Clippers are also entering a homestand in Inglewood, just steps from the Rams' SoFi Stadium. They are scheduled to host the Hornets on Saturday, Miami on Monday and Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Lakers star Anthony Davis donated $20,000 to a team staff member's GoFundMe page after his family's home was destroyed in the Southern California wildfires.
Team cameraman Rohan Ali started donation page On Thursday night, her parents, Gayle and Rasheed Ali, lost their home in the Eaton fire.
Within 7 hours of creating the page with a goal of $80,000, the total had risen to more than $49,000 by midday Friday.
Davis' donation took care of a quarter of the goal by himself, and teammate Jarred Vanderbilt also chipped in $4,000.