The Los Angeles Lakers were playing on the road Tuesday in Dallas, meaning the players have not been home as wildfires swept through Pacific Palisades and several other areas of Los Angeles, killing at least two people and causing at least 30,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to media reports.
Among the evacuees is the family of Lakers’ rookie head coach J.J. Redick, who described the situation prior to Tuesday’s game against the Mavericks, and said that his family members were, understandably, “freaking out.”
âOur family, my wifeâs family, my wifeâs twin sister, theyâve evacuated. I know a lot of people are freaking out right now, including my family,” Redick said when addressing the media prior to the game. “From the sound of things, with the winds coming (Tuesday night), I know a lot of people are scared. So I just want to acknowledge that. Thoughts and prayers for sure, and hope everybody stays safe.â
Lakers Flight Home Reportedly Unaffected
Los Angeles International Airport was reportedly unaffected by the fires as of Wednesday morning. Lakers team officials said that the team’s flight back to the city would go ahead as scheduled Tuesday night. The Lakers are scheduled to face the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles, an area that has not been directly impacted by the blazes.
As of Wednesday morning, that game was set to take place as normal.
While there was no specific report that the family of Lakers superstar LeBron James was forced to evacuate, the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles where James owns a $23 million mansion was placed under an evacuation order Tuesday night.
United States Vice-President Kamala Harris also has a residence in the Brentwood neighborhood and announced Wednesday that her family had safely evacuated. It would be expected, then, that if any James family members were in his Brentwood mansion, they too would be forced to flee.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, James took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to send a heartfelt message to his adopted hometown.
James Posts Early Morning Message on Social Media
“Praying for everyone in Southern California!!!” wrote the 40-year-old NBA future Hall of Famer, following those six words with four praying-hands emojis.
But James did not post any messages about the status of his own family. The situation was different in October, 2019, when brush fires in the area did force James and his family out of their home.
âHad to emergency evacuate my house and Iâve been driving around with my family trying to get rooms. No luck so far!â James tweeted at the time. About an hour later, James tweeted that he had “finally found a place to accommodate us! Crazy night man!” And in a subsequent tweet implored his fellow Los Angeles residents, âPretty please get to safety ASAP.â
On Wednesday morning, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone at a press conference said that the fires had caused a “high number of significant injuries” to residents who for whatever reason failed to evacuate their homes.
The fires have been propelled by high winds in the Southern California region. The winds have grounded firefighting aircraft, holding back efforts to douse the raging fires from the air.
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