Lakers coach JJ Redick vows to help rebuild L.A. after losing home in fire

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Lakers coach JJ Redick, speaking for the first time since he and his family had their Pacific Palisades home destroyed by a fire that devastated a community, fought back tears as he talked about the loss he and his neighbors suffered, the resolve to rebuild Los Angeles and the sanctuary basketball provided him on Friday as the team held a practice.

The Lakers are scheduled to host San Antonio on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, and despite the unimaginable loss Redick and his family suffered this week, he wants the Lakers to play.

“Being around the guys and coaching — and I told them this — we’re prepared for whatever tomorrow. We obviously are going to work with the NBA, the Spurs, the city and do what’s right,” he said. “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.

“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.”

Tears filled Redick’s eyes as he recounted a conversation he had with his wife, Chelsea, after seeing the destruction in Pacific Palisades with his own eyes Wednesday morning.

“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.’

Read more: Lakers home game against Hornets postponed due to L.A. County wildfires

“And … 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…

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Source link : https://www.yahoo.com/news/lakers-coach-jj-redick-vows-215702094.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2025-01-10 21:57:00

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