Los Angeles Lakers coach J.J. Redick hopes team’s return can ‘give people hope’
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Coach J.J. Redick of the Los Angeles Lakers during the third quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Centre on Jan 7.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Lakers coach J.J. Redick hopes the team’s eventual return to play can “give people hope”, after seeing his Pacific Palisades home incinerated in the deadly wildfires that have ravaged the city.
The Lakers postponed a scheduled home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Jan 9 because of the fires, which have left at least 11 people dead and destroyed around 10,000 homes and other buildings.
Redick oversaw practice on Jan 10 for what was expected to be an emotionally charged home game against the San Antonio Spurs on Jan 11, but that game was also postponed in a decision announced by National Basketball Association chiefs. The Los Angeles Clippers’ game against Charlotte set for Jan 11 was also postponed.
Redick is one of several Lakers organisation members directly impacted by the fires, seeing his family’s rented property in Pacific Palisades, the ground zero of the disaster, consumed by the flames.
On Jan 10, he became emotional as he spoke to reporters about the personal impact of the disaster on his family.
“I’m not sure I’ve wept or wailed like that in several years,” said Redick, who was living in the house with his wife Chelsea and their two sons.
“I was not prepared for what I saw,” he said of visiting Pacific Palisades after returning home from the Lakers’ game at Dallas in the early hours of Jan 8.
By then, Redick’s family had been evacuated to a hotel. The coach then went back to his home early on Jan 8 to assess the situation.
“It was complete devastation and destruction,” he said. “I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for something like that. We talked about it as a group before practice today. And it’s our responsibility and everybody in this building to lead on this and help people.”
The 40-year-old said his family had lost “irreplaceable” items in the destruction.
“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,” he said.
Other sports figures were also among those grappling with the devastation.
Five-time Olympic swimming gold medallist Gary Hall Jr said he evacuated his Pacific Palisades house taking only his dog, the insulin he uses to treat his diabetes, a painting of his grandfather, and a religious artifact.
He was unable to return to the house to get the five gold, three silver and two bronze medals he won in three Olympic Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
“I was getting pelted by embers on that first run,” Hall said. “So I grabbed my dog and some dog food, and that was it,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, the National Football League (NFL) said on Jan 10 that the league and four teams are donating US$5 million (S$6.7 million) to support Los Angeles communities impacted by the fires.
The NFL said in a statement that its two Los Angeles teams, the Rams and Chargers, and their opponents in the wild-card play-off round, the Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans, had pledged US$1 million each, which would be matched by the NFL Foundation, the league’s philanthropic arm.
Meanwhile, a training camp for the United States women’s national team has been moved from Los Angeles to Miami due to the wildfires, US Soccer said on Jan 10. AFP
