Anthony Davis reveals he had to evacuate home during wildfires

Lakers star Anthony Davis revealed after the team’s game against the Spurs on Monday that he was forced to evacuate from his home due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

While Lakers head coach JJ Redick recently shared his emotional story on losing his home to the wildfires in Los Angeles, he was not the lone person on the roster impacted.

After Monday’s game against the Spurs, Anthony Davis revealed that he, too, was forced to evacuate from his home. He spoke not just of the turmoil of leaving his house, but seeing the community around his family suffer loss, too.

“We were in Dallas when everything started happening,” Davis said. “Obviously, you have kids and a wife and started freaking out. You get home and you kind of see it as we’re flying in and you kind of hear about – the first thing I heard about was JJ’s house – and then my wife started telling me about some of my daughter’s classmates, their families losing home and my daughter, where she goes rides horses was gone and some of my son’s classmate’s houses are gone. It started getting tough, started getting emotional.

“And then, as you started to see more and more, as the days went on, things happening and more and more fires happening to the point where it’s getting close to you and now you have to evacuate your home. It’s just a lot. But we’re just trying to get through it.”

It’s hard to imagine going through all of that and then having to concentrate on playing basketball. In many ways, playing a game feels very trivial at a time like this. AD shared those sentiments, talking about the dichotomy the players are facing, playing a game that brings joy to them and others while also dealing with these real-life struggles.

What AD, the Lakers and everyone else learned in recent years, though, is how much of an escape that a simple game can be.

“One thing we found through the course of COVID is that sports kind of brings joy back to people, even if it’s temporary,” he continued. “We’re eager to play basketball again in front of our fans. Sucks that we weren’t able to get the win, not with just that but with Coop’s jersey retirement. Definitely a tough situation in LA and we appreciate everyone’s support from around the world, around the country and other leagues and other teams and first responders risking their lives to make sure that everyone’s as safe as possible.”

As a self-proclaimed leader in the community, AD was also already thinking about how he could repay those who have done so much for him and others around LA. Specifically, he spoke about wanting to host firefighters and first responders in a suite at Lakers game in the future to meet them and thank them for what they’d done.

More than anything, though, AD spoke about the work that need still be done. Los Angeles is far, far from out of the woods yet. Monday felt, at least for a small time, like a bit of normalcy, both for the Lakers and fans.

“It felt good to be on the floor and bring joy back to everyone that was here that can kind of get away from it for two-and-a-half hours,” AD said. “But the fight isn’t over. We still have a lot to do.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.