Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has opened up about his experience after losing his rental home during the Los Angeles wildfires.

Redick rented a home for the year in the Palisades region after agreeing to become Lakers coach on June 24, 2024, but lost everything he owned to the blazing fires. The Lakers last played in Dallas on Tuesday night when the fires began, and Redick confirmed that his family had been evacuated.

The Lakers coach moved his family to a hotel, and when returning to the region, decided to see the aftermath for himself despite knowing that his temporary home, and prized possessions, were gone. “My wife got out really early… got out of there, got the kids from school, they’re safe,” Redick told reporters on Friday.

“Didn’t spend any time on Twitter for a long time. Tuesday night, just to get updates, I was on there a lot and following along with everything that was happening. (Wednesday morning) Woke up at 7, still had my coaches uniform on and headed up to the Palisades and just had to see it for myself.

“I was not prepared for what I saw. It’s complete devastation and destruction. 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.

“Look, we were renting for the year, trying to figure out where we wanted to be long-term. Everything we own that was of any importance to us, almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years of parenting was in that house.

“There’s certain things that you can’t replace, that will never be replaced. Just weird s—. My son did an art project last year. It was like a charcoal pencil painting of a lighthouse that we had framed above the stairs. You can’t ever replace stuff like that. The material stuff is whatever.”

Despite dealing with their own loss, the days which followed helped offer Redick a perspective, and he feels driven to help the community rebuild after being welcomed into the area. “My family and I are processing the self side, the individual side of losing your home, and you never wish that on anybody,” Redick added.

“I think what has happened over the last 72 hours, you really get a sense of the communal destruction. Of course, my wife and I were emotional. Not sure I’ve wept like that in several years. She said to me ‘I was hesitant to move out here, for you to go into coaching. Never loved living somewhere more than I loved Brooklyn.’

“We move out here, and the Palisades community has been really good to us. That’s the part to us that we are really struggling with. The loss of the community. People make up the community and we’re going to rebuild.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and love that my family have felt. People in the Palisades community who have also lost homes, we’ve all leaned on each other. Our family, we are as committed as ever to Los Angeles. We realize it’s not just our community that’s been impacted by this. We are committed to helping other people as much as we can.”