Forced to evacuate home, LeBron James opens up about the impact of wildfires in Los Angeles

LeBron James and his family are among the more than 150,000 Los Angeles-area residents forced to evacuate their homes at times this past week as wildfires ravaged the area, leaving at least 25 people dead and destroying more than 12,300 structures.

For the first time, LeBron James opened up about having to evacuate their home in Brentwood and the impact of the fires when he spoke to reporters after his Lakers beat the Heat on Wednesday night (quotes via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).

“There’s been a lot of emotion,” James said. “I have a couple of dear friends who have lost their homes in the Palisades. Obviously, my heart goes out to all the families, not just across the (Pacific) Palisades, but throughout LA County and all the surrounding areas because of the fire and things like that. It’s been a lot of emotions.

“Personally, I have been free,” he continued. “Personally, my family, we’ve been evacuated since Thursday night, so I’ve been in a hotel pretty much since we got back from Dallas. So just figuring it out. But be strong for each other. It’s clear , that’s most important.”

LeBron had to evacuate his home due to fires once before, back in 2019.

“We had that experience and were able to lean on it a little bit,” James said. “The difference between ’19 and today, in ’19 it was in the middle of the night so we had to go right away. We had a little more time before we had to evacuate so we could get some things, get some possessions or whatever be that as it may, a few things meant things to us, but our home certainly hasn’t been touched since we left, but it still stands, and for that we are thankful.’

The fires have affected several Lakers. Coach JJ Redick burned down the home he, his wife and two sons rented in Pacific Palisades. Fortunately, the family was safe, but he had previously spoken of an emotional toll. Among the lost memories were his sons’ growing NBA memorabilia collections, but Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama helped them restart that collection.

Firefighters are still working to fully contain the wildfires in the region, especially the sprawling Palisades fire (which is the one that threatened LeBron’s home and burned Redick’s). Fortunately for these efforts, the strong winds that had fanned the flames have subsided.