Lakers coach JJ Redick vows to help rebuild L.A. after losing home in fire
It was gone, Lakers coach JJ Redick already knew, but he needed to see it.
The morning after his team flew into Los Angeles with the city sky lit by the raging wildfires that would destroy his family’s home, he rode through Pacific Palisades to survey the erasure of a community that he, his wife, his children and his sister-in-law and her family all share.
“I just kind of had to see it for myself,” he said, needing to clear his throat. “And, I was not prepared. I was not prepared for what I saw. It is, um, it’s … it’s complete devastation and destruction. … I went through most of the village and it’s all gone. And I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for something like that. Our home, our home is gone. And look, we were, we were renting for the year to try to figure out where we wanted to be long term. And everything we, we owned that was of any importance to us almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years of parenting was in that house.
“And there’s certain things that you can’t replace, that will never be replaced. And it’s like, it’s like weird. My son did an art project last year at St. Anne’s in Brooklyn. And it was like a charcoal pencil painting of a lighthouse that we had framed above the stairs. And you can’t ever replace stuff like that. You know, memories. Eighteen years together now, Chelsea and I, certain things that were in that house that you can’t replace.”
Redick and the Lakers were back at practice Friday after the NBA postponed their game Thursday against Charlotte. They’re currently scheduled to host San Antonio on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, a game Redick hopes the Lakers play.
“I want to play tomorrow, I want to coach tomorrow. I want these guys to play tomorrow and if we can play, we’ll play,” Redick said. “I do believe for everybody, for everybody that has been impacted by this, there is a grieving process. There’s a healing process. I can only speak for myself, part of my healing and grieving process is being here with these guys and coaching basketball.”
The NBA has postponed the Lakers game against the Hornets scheduled for Thursday at Crypto.com Arena due to ongoing L.A. County wildfires.
Redick, unbeknownst to many, had planned on helping coach his sons, Knox and Kai, in a youth league at Palisades Recreation Center this winter. That season was to begin Wednesday, a day after the center was destroyed.
“They’re devastated about the rec center. I don’t think I’ve told you guys this, I signed up to coach their winter league team and based on the schedule, I was going to be able to help out in about half the practices and half the games,” he said. “Our first practice was Wednesday afternoon. So they woke up Tuesday morning thinking they were a day away from practicing with their friends and having me coach their practice.
“The thing that I’ve always talked with them about is valuing people over things. And that’s how I live my life and that’s how Chelsea lives her life and that’s how our kids are being raised. I think this is a great opportunity for them to learn that and to just embrace it and love on people, which they’re doing today.”
Redick’s family evacuated Pacific Palisades before the team’s game Tuesday in Dallas. The team plane, delayed in Texas because of maintenance issues, returned to the city early Wednesday morning as the Palisades and Eaton fires rapidly spread.
“When we were flying in, everybody was trying to see how bad it was because I really don’t think that people grasped how bad it was until you could kind of see it with your own two eyes,” Austin Reaves said. “And as we’re flying, we were definitely looking out the window seeing what we could see. From a distance, you could see some fire. But as you got closer, there was so much smoke. It was basically like you were flying in the clouds. So it was scary.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Redick began to cry when discussing his return to the Palisades on Wednesday morning — a place he and his wife had begun to call home after they moved from Brooklyn this past summer.
“I’m not sure I’ve wept or wailed like that in several years,” he said. “And she said to me, ‘I was very hesitant to move out here. I was very hesitant for you to go into coaching. I’ve never loved living somewhere more than I’ve loved Brooklyn, and I’ve never loved the community more than I love the community I’ve had in Brooklyn. And then, you know, it’s like, we move out here and the Palisades community has really just been so good to us.’
“And that’s, I think that’s the part for us that we’re really struggling with is just the loss of community. And I recognize that people make up community, and we’re going to rebuild and we want to help lead on that. But all the churches, the schools, the library, like it’s all gone.”
In particular, the community’s recreation center had become an important place to the family, beginning with the first time they saw the house that they rented and filled with their most important possessions while trying to find a permanent base in Los Angeles.
“The day we visited the house and decided we wanted to live in the house, we’re like, let’s go explore the village. And we stumbled upon the rec center and there was some summer rec league basketball games going on. One kid, Milo, was playing. I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty good.’ He ended up being one of our neighbors; they lost their home. The rec center was like this, this place we were at every day. I mean, flag football, basketball, the playground, baseball, tennis courts. Like it’s just … and everyone we knew was there every day. And you just, it, it, it, it just hurts to lose that.”
Redick said he and his family will help devastated areas in the recovery process.
“For our family, we’re as committed as ever to Los Angeles,” Redick said. “We recognize, like it’s not just our community that has been impacted by this. There’s people in Malibu, there’s people in Brentwood, there’s people up in the Valley, there’s people in Pasadena ... it’s all over L.A. And if there’s anything we can do to help and lead, we will … we’re still figuring that out. It’s still pretty fresh, but, we’re committed to helping other people as much as we can. And we’re going to do that. And we recognize that it’s going to be a long process.
“… This has impacted so many people. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me and my family. We’re gonna be all right. We’re gonna be all right. There’s people that, um, you know, because of some political issues and some insurance issues are not going to be all right. And we’re going to do everything we can to help anybody who’s down and out because of this.”
Redick specifically mentioned several Lakers employees who lost their homes in the fire, including Dan Grigsby, the team’s chief legal counsel, a neighbor of Redick. Lakers videographer Rohan Ali’s parents lost their home in Altadena because of the Eaton fire. Anthony Davis donated $20,000 to their recovery efforts through GoFundMe.
Redick said he believes the Lakers have a role to play in the city’s recovery.
“We certainly want to do everything we can within the safety parameters of what’s going on in the city. We obviously want to give people hope and we want to give — I don’t want to say a distraction — maybe an escape,” Redick said. “We talked about it as a group before practice. It is our responsibility — everybody in this building — to lead on this and to help people. You never know what that’s going to look like. … And I think between myself, [Rob Pelinka], I know the Buss family — Jeanie specifically — we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to help Los Angeles.”
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