The NBA announced that home games for the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers will resume Monday, after both teams’ games originally scheduled for Saturday were postponed due to the wildfires ravaging Southern California .
The Lakers will host the San Antonio Spurs on Monday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles while the Clippers will host the Miami Heat at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, south of the Palisades fire.
The Clippers said during practice Sunday that the league has given the green light for Monday’s game. The Spurs said they were told Monday’s game against the Lakers would be played as scheduled.
Saturday’s games in Southern California, in which the Lakers were originally scheduled to host the Spurs in the first of two back-to-back games between the two teams and the Clippers’ home game against the Charlotte Hornets, were postponed in response to the fires. The Lakers also had a game scheduled for Thursday against the Hornets pushed back.
NBA POSTPONES SATURDAY’S LAKERS-SPURS AND CLIPPERS-HORNETS GAMES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DUE TO WILDFIRES
Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball head coach JJ Redick, right, is hugged by guard Austin Reaves, left, before speaking to the media about the Pacific Palisades fire during from a press conference in El Segundo, California on Friday, January 10, 2025. (PA)
“I pray this nightmare ends soon!” Lakers star forward LeBron James wrote on the social media platform X on Saturday.
The Spurs had to change hotels due to fires after arriving in Los Angeles, while the Heat arrived Saturday night as planned.
The Lakers and Clippers are also scheduled to host games on Wednesday, when the Lakers host the Heat and the Clippers take on the Brooklyn Nets.
“When people lose their homes, kids lose schools, lose lives, it’s very difficult to approach basketball because life is bigger than basketball,” the Clippers coach said , Tyronn Lue, to reporters. “I hope we can bring some sort of joy with the game returning tomorrow, a bit of togetherness and try to put a bit of a smile on people’s faces in difficult times.”
LEBRON JAMES SENDS “SO MANY PRAYERS” AS LOS ANGELES WILDFIRES CONTINUE
Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard watches the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)
Clippers guard Terance Mann plans to rummage through a storage unit he keeps for useful items he plans to donate.
“I just want to donate a lot of clothes, money, shoes, anything I can,” he said. “I’m going to help people, donate, drive and do what I can to help.”
Some members of the Clippers organization were forced to evacuate their homes during the fires. The team was on the road when the fires started, and star forward Kawhi Leonard left the team in Denver to help his family evacuate Pacific Palisades.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said his family’s rental home in Pacific Palisades burned Tuesday night, destroying most of their belongings.
“I wasn’t prepared for what I saw,” Redick said Friday. “It’s complete devastation and destruction. I had to take a different route home, but I walked through most of the village and everything was gone. I don’t think we can ever prepare for something like this. Our house is gone.”
Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick talks about he and his family losing their home in the deadly Pacific Palisades fire during an NBA basketball press conference at the Los Angeles Lakers’ Sanitary Training Center UCLA in El Segundo, California on Friday, January 10, 2025. (PA)
The Lakers announced a donation campaign for their upcoming games, starting Monday. The team urged fans to bring new items in the package to support the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank’s relief efforts.
The UCLA Team Health Training Center in El Segundo will be used as a drive-thru donation center starting Tuesday, with essential non-food items listed as priorities, but packaged food items are also welcome.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, which is the players’ union, announced Friday a $1 million donation for immediate relief to the American Red Cross, World Central Kitchen and other organizations working to provide assistance to victims and recovery efforts.
