As the city of Los Angeles continues to battle three concurrent wildfires torching the area, some of the sports teams in the city have returned to playing in their hometown.
While the NFL made the decision to move the Los Angeles Rams to Glendale, Arizona for their Wild Card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers hosted home games on Monday evening.
At the newly opened Intuit Dome in the city of Inglewood, the Clippers hosted the Miami Heat in their first game back at home after the fires began. Previously, the NBA had postponed a home contest against the Charlotte Hornets due to the disaster.
Prior to the game tipping off, the Clippers’ public address announcer, Eric Smith, delivered a moving speech.
‘Our city has endured unfathomable devastation,’ Smith told the gathered fans. ‘Homes have been destroyed, businesses and lives lost, and communities forever changed.
‘We’re so thankful for the first responders, but we ache for the victims. We mourn more than just property, pictures, keepsakes, memories that connect families and generations. Once vibrant and historic neighborhoods sit empty, evacuated.
A Los Angeles Clippers fan holds up an ‘LA Strong’ shirt at a Clippers-Heat game on Monday
Lakers rookie Quincy Olivari wears a t-shirt dedicated to Los Angeles first responders
‘But the smoke will lift, and they will return and rebuild. Because this is LA and today, we all stand together: one team, one Los Angeles.’
The speech drew cheers from the sparsely attended audience just before the national anthem played.
Players wore t-shirts on the benches and in warmup which said ‘LA Strong’ with a blue outline of the state.
Across the city in downtown LA, the Lakers hosted the San Antonio Spurs in a game that was initially postponed from Saturday. Like the Clippers, the Lakers had a game against the Hornets postponed as well.
The team held a moment of silence and dedicated the game to first responders on a night where the franchise also retired the jersey of Lakers legend Michael Cooper.
Like the Clippers, the Lakers also wore special shirts in warmups and on the bench – with a yellow firefighters cross and the Lakers’ ‘L’ logo in the middle with the words ‘Thank You First Responders’.
Members of both teams were effected by the wildfires, which still rage throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard announced last week that he’d be taking some time away from the team after his family was forced to evacuate from the Palisades Fire. Leonard played in Monday’s game – a 109-98 victory.
James Harden (L) and LeBron James (R) both wore shirts in support of the LA community
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard (L) and Lakers coach JJ Redick (R) lost homes in the wildfires
Lakers head coach JJ Redick and his family also were forced to leave their family home from the same blaze. Redick was on the bench as the Lakers fell to San Antonio 126-102.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who has a home in suburban Los Angeles and attended high school in Pacific Palisades, lost his house as well.
As the blaze was still ongoing, Lakers star LeBron James shared a message of support on social media on Saturday.
‘I pray this nightmare ends soon!’ the four-time NBA champion wrote on social media. ‘So many prayers,’ he added.
On Monday, it was announced that the 12 professional sports teams in Los Angeles – the Clippers and Lakers of the NBA, the Dodgers and Angels of the MLB, the LA Galaxy and LAFC of MLS, the Kings and Anaheim Ducks of the NHL, the Sparks of the WNBA, and Angel City FC of the NWSL – would combine to donate $8million to various causes helping the city’s relief efforts.
That donation was widely criticized on social media, with many saying the amount was too low – especially considering five of those teams (the Rams [3], Lakers [8], Clippers [22], Dodgers [24], and Chargers [31]) are among the 40 most valuable sports franchises in the world.
As of Monday evening, the death toll from the three wildfires – the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire, and the Hurst Fire – is 24. The two larger fires, the Palisades and Eaton Fires, are both below 30 percent containment.
