For nearly two weeks now, a series of wildfires have been devastating the Los Angeles metropolitan area, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate the area while countless home and buildings have been destroyed. There's no telling how long it will take for the area to fully recover, especially since there are still active wildfires that first responders and firefighters are working to combat.
Amidst all of this, the Los Angeles Lakers have returned to the court following the postponement of a pair of home games against the Charlotte Hornets and San Antonio Spurs. On Wednesday night, the Lakers held off a Heat team going through their own much-less-important off-court issues, securing a 117-108 win in front of the hometown fans at Crypto.com Arena, giving the people of Los Angeles something to smile about, if only for two and a half hours.
After the game, Lakers star LeBron James spoke to reporters about the role of the Lakers and the NBA during this difficult time in Los Angeles.
LeBron expressed his desire to give the people of Los Angeles, “hope, pride and excitement” during this period.
“Sports have always given people the opportunity to, like, temporarily forget about whatever they may be going through,” LeBron said. “With us being such a big part of the LA community, hopefully we provide that for a lot of fans.”
Following a win over the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford dedicated the victory to the people in LA who had been impacted by the wildfires.
It's not just the fans of the teams in Los Angeles who are being impacted by this disaster. Late last week, Lakers coach JJ Redick revealed that he had lost his home in the LA wildfires. Numerous athletes and celebrities have been forced to evacuate and have lost their homes during this time.
It may seem like a minor contribution with everything that is going on, but during trying times like this, any sliver of hope can help.