"We love you, LA"

Watching what has happened in Los Angeles throughout the week has been "beyond heartbreaking" ... as Spurs executive RC Buford aptly put it

I love L.A.

I love the city and the wider region that the mere mention of Los Angeles inspires and, of course, have a soft spot for that song, too.

I haven't lived there in ages, but the fondness never fades.

Not that a SoCal past is required to feel the pain and weight of an unspeakably tragic week. Chances are we all know someone directly impacted by the ongoing wildfires disaster in the area.

That's a certainty if you, as all of us here obviously do, follow the NBA closely. There were games scheduled to be played downtown and in Inglewood on Saturday: Spurs at Lakers and Hornets at Clippers. Both were postponed Friday night by the league office as they rightfully had to be at such a dire, scary time for so many local residents threatened by multiple fires.

By now you have undoubtedly heard the stories of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr losing the family home that his parents purchased in 1969. Earlier in the week I shared this video from Sacramento Kings assistant coach Luke Loucks, whose brother lost his home as well. Then on Friday, at the team's practice facility, JJ Redick provided a window into the crushing emotions stemming from the loss of the Pacific Palisades residence he and his family were renting for his first season as Lakers coach.

It was impossible not to be moved by Redick's words and candor. If you haven't seen the interview yet, The Athletic's Jovan Buha has it captured here:

I've been thinking about what to write since Tuesday night, when the Lakers were right in front of me in Dallas for a nationally televised game ... clearly cognizant of the mounting doom back home. It was unclear, initially, if their postgame flight back to the West Coast would be able to land in Los Angeles or have to be diverted to an airport nearby. It was also in the hours before tipoff that Redick got word that his wife and two children would have to evacuate their home ahead of the looming catastrophe.

I decided, in the end, to post this short story — in lieu of any wisdom I wish I had that could really help — just to provide a place for anyone in our sphere to share well-wishes for those affected, maybe some ideas to help those in need, etc., if they wish to do so.

And in closing I cede the floor to San Antonio Spurs CEO RC Buford, who captured the spirit of what I'm going for about as well as you can at a time when a heaviness and helplessness hangs over the whole league: