Dave McMenaminJan 26, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.Follow on X
How JJ Redick helped rebuild the Palisades Rec Center after L.A. fires (4:18)JJ Redick and his family are bringing hope to the Los Angeles community and families that lost so much in the fires. (4:18)
On Jan. 8, 2026, Redick and the Lakers returned from San Antonio to find Southern California still recovering from the ruin. “When I got back that night, it was literally 365 days later,” Redick told ESPN. “I’m going up the 405 [Freeway], and when we lived in the Palisades, I banged that left going on 10-W and go to the Palisades.
“So, that was all part of my [thought process]. … But I was like, ‘There’s got to be more. There’s got to be more.’ And I actually realized — this is going to sound weird — where a lot of my anger was. My anger was that my family and I only got to live there for five months.
“And it was like, I wish we could have experienced that, and I wish my kids could have experienced that, and Chelsea could have experienced that for a lifetime.”
Redick has harnessed those emotions into purpose, collaborating with other Los Angeles leaders to create his charity, LA Sports Strong, and partnering with the nonprofit Steadfast L.A. to help rebuild the Palisades Recreation Center. He has met with builders, funders and civic partners. They have reimagined the rec center, with plans for fire-resilient buildings and 50,000-square feet of rehabilitated green and community space, protected by fire-resistant landscaping.
Judd Apatow performed stand-up. Jennifer Garner addressed the dinner guests. Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic belted out a set. And Adam Sandler introduced Redick and L.A. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts before the decision-makers for the city’s two marquee pro sports franchises had an intimate “coach’s corner” conversation.
The event raised millions of dollars, sources told ESPN. “Way more than we expected,” Redick said. “More than double what the target was.”
As the team plane descended toward LAX after that Mavericks game last January, he saw the orange, burning wreckage. The players and coaches could smell it.
“You could see the embers, the fire, the smoke,” Redick said. “We kind of flew through a dark patch of smoke. It just … it … it was overwhelming.”
Chelsea and the boys had already evacuated. Redick met them at their hotel, arriving at 3 a.m., still wearing his coach’s uniform from the night before.
He slept for a few hours and then, equipped with a list from Chelsea, drove to the Palisades to see if he could salvage anything from the house.
The list spanned from the sentimental — Chelsea’s original engagement ring — to the practical — iPads for the kids and a week’s worth of clothes for all of them after they reported to the hotel with just overnight bags.
“Just a pile of ash and rubble, just like our neighborhood … and most of the Palisades,” Redick said. “It was probably the most devastating thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I mean, everything had just come down,” he said. “The framing and the stairs — the metal is still there — but everything just came down to the basement in the garage. It was just a pile of ash.”
“By the time I got back to the hotel, Chelsea had already told the kids,” Redick said. “And, you know, I … I don’t know what those first five minutes were like because I wasn’t in the hotel room, but … I know that they were highly emotional.”
With Redick and the city coping with unimaginable loss, the league postponed the Lakers’ games Jan. 9 against Charlotte and Jan. 11 against San Antonio, but the team returned to practice before resuming game play Jan. 13 against the Spurs.
He responded with a message. “‘If you guys want to play, I want to coach,'” Redick said. “‘I’m ready to go.’ I wanted to make that very clear to them, like, ‘Don’t think I’m not going to give you my best.'”
He also recognized the role the team could occupy in service to the community. Redick had an LAFD patch sewn onto the arm of the sweaters he wore to coach on the sidelines, honoring the fire department. The Lakers set up collections at the arena and their practice facility for fans to donate food items and other essentials. The team hosted a first responders night at Crypto.com Arena — complete with a chance to play on the Lakers’ court and participate in a clinic run by Robert Horry.
Redick became a public face for the tragedy. He took the position seriously, but he was also well aware of how fortunate his family was, with them having the means to cover the costs of being displaced. He vowed action, not just representation.
“He came over to me and was like, ‘Hey, I left something in my locker for Knox and Kai.’ And it was personalized, signed jerseys for them.”
“I get to rebound for him before games, and he always lets me shoot a 3 when he’s done,” Knox said of Reaves. “He is someone I look up to.”
The lost memorabilia was full of what collectors refer to as “grails.” There was a Luka Doncic Mavs jersey personally autographed to Knox that Doncic — at that point, his dad’s former teammate — presented him at a Dallas-Brooklyn Nets game when they lived in New York and Redick was beginning his media career.
There was a Stephen Curry jersey personally autographed to Kai that Redick had Curry sign after a podcast taping. In all, Redick estimates his boys had eight to 10 jerseys apiece, plus countless basketball cards that they had bought with money saved up from birthday gifts and earned from chores. All of it was gone.
When the Lakers’ season resumed Jan. 13, the pair presented Knox and Kai their game-worn jerseys on the court after the final buzzer.
“Chris just gets it,” Redick said of his former L.A. Clippers backcourt mate. “We had a weird relationship in college and early on in the NBA. We didn’t like each other. Then, we became teammates. And we realized we had a ton in common. And I love that guy. And it meant a lot. And I’m not surprised that Vic participated in that gift, as well, because he’s one of the best human beings I’ve met.”
With Paul and Wembanyama’s gesture making the rounds on social media, others joined in to boost Knox’s and Kai’s collection.
Curry sent two autographed jerseys, one to replace Kai’s and another one for Knox. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic also sent two.
Hall of Famers David Robinson, whose son, Justin, is a Lakers player development coach, and Michael Cooper sent autographed jerseys, too. As did more current players, including Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero from the Orlando Magic, and Cooper Flagg, who was starring at Duke University at the time. (Duke, Redick’s alma mater, also sent a Redick No. 4 Blue Devils jersey for good measure). UCLA’s basketball program sent jerseys, too.
TURN OFF THE Pacific Coast Highway and up Temescal Canyon toward Pacific Palisades today, and signs of the fires are everywhere.
On the north side of the street, there is a park bench with the slogan “PALI STRONG” printed in block letters — a rallying cry for the community during its rebuild.
Across the street from the school, there are empty lots where houses once stood, some with construction equipment parked on the property. A precious few have wooden studs erected. Some are still filled with debris and will never be rebuilt.
Placards from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are placed near the curb, sometimes as the only marker of the address of a house that once stood there.
“We found this amazing thing, this amazing place with amazing people,” Redick said. “And that’s really the hope for the [new] rec center, to be honest with you. And whether it’s a church, a school, a rec center, like these public spaces being open — Rick [Caruso’s] Palisades Village, honestly — it gives a reason for people to come back.”
Redick has concentrated his efforts at a place that he and his family found to be the heartbeat of his Palisades experience.
He wasn’t the only one. His LA Strong Sports foundation estimates the center served more than 750 kids daily, hosted more than 70 programs ranging from basketball and baseball for kids, to tennis and bocce ball for adults.
The gymnasium where Knox and Kai played their basketball games has been torn down. It survived the fires, but the heat, combined with the sprinkler system, caused the court to warp and buckle so badly that the wooden planks looked like rolling waves — some several feet tall.
Redick invited the kids from the displaced rec league to come to the UCLA Health and Training Center to play last March. With a new rec season underway, the Redicks still return for rec practices in the Palisades auxiliary gym, a brick building that survived the tragedy, and are reminded of what was lost.
“It’s crazy to see all the things that used to be there are gone now,” Knox said. “It makes me feel sad.”
Redick anticipates the city will approve building permits for the rec center by the end of the month, if not early February, and he has helped secure nearly $25 million of the $47 million the reconstruction calls for, with the goal of reopening as early as the first half of 2027, sources told ESPN.
“We told him he could pick because we were moving him,” Redick said. “He was so excited to be in fourth grade and have his electives and go to the big school.”
“We get to L.A., and it’s like within days, we’re like, ‘Oh, this place is magical. We’re happy,'” Redick said. “And Chelsea made comments to me early in the season, ‘This is the happiest I’ve seen you since you played.'”
“The word of the night for our [fundraising] event was ‘a night of resilience.’ And what I told Chelsea,” Redick said, “was we couldn’t have predicted this would happen, but her and the kids’ level of resilience and toughness and love and adaptability and all that stuff was like, it’s been incredible to watch.
“It made us tighter as a family, truthfully. It made us stronger as a family. I’m proud of the three of them. Really proud.”