EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick confirmed his family lost its home in the raging wildfire in Pacific Palisades this week.
Redick became emotional when he spoke about the fire’s impact for the first time Friday after practice with the Lakers, whose scheduled game Saturday against San Antonio was postponed late Friday. The Clippers’ home game Saturday against Charlotte also was postponed, and both the Lakers and Clippers are scheduled to be home Monday and Wednesday as well.
“I’m not sure I’ve wept or wailed like that in several years,” Redick said.
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.
“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 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.
“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. … 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.”
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.
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.
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