JJ Redick Started Crying During Lakers’ Meeting After Personal Tragedy

The 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles were devastating for people from all walks of life. The flames engulfed many businesses, and many high-profile celebrities also felt the fire’s impact.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach, JJ Redick, also lost his home to the fire in Pacific Palisades, just five months after moving there. ESPN writer Dave McMenamin wrote a piece on Redick’s trauma, a year after he lost his home to the L.A. wildfires. 

JJ Redick Looks Back on a Difficult Period

Redick confessed to ESPN that he couldn’t contain his emotions during the turbulent period. He recalled taking a break from social media to concentrate on his coaching job.

But he logged back into his Instagram just to see the story of his wife, Chelsea Kilgore, who shared her agony after losing their home.

Then he saw a message from her during a coaches meeting informing him about what they had lost. The Lakers head coach couldn’t contain his tears after reading it. 

“Redick's wife, Chelsea, had posted about the ordeal on Instagram, and so many friends had referenced her post in texts to him that the Lakers coach, who has sworn off social media to help him focus on the job, redownloaded the app and logged into his dormant account just to see what his wife had shared. He was in the middle of his coaches' meeting when he read her message. ‘I cried,' he said, before apologizing for the interruption,'" McMenamin wrote.

These raw emotions from Redick were felt by tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents last year. Per CBS Sports, the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed around 13,000 homes, causing a lot of financial and mental strain for families.