LeBron feeling mental toll of L.A. wildfires: 'A lot of emotions'

LeBron James says the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area have taken a mental toll on him.

"I have a couple of dear friends that have lost their homes in the Palisades," James told reporters Wednesday, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Obviously, my heart goes out to all of the families, all across not only the Palisades, but all across L.A. County and all the surrounding areas because of the fire. ... It's been a lot of emotions."

He added, "I've just been completely off for obvious reasons, but hopefully things are contained or continue to be contained. And hopefully, at some point, we can start to push forward and move forward and put it behind us and rebuild our city, rebuild this beautiful city."

Various members of the Lakers organization have been affected by the disaster.

Head coach JJ Redick lost his family home in the Pacific Palisades fire. Redick's sons lost their entire memorabilia collection in the fire. The first-year coach expressed gratitude to former teammate Chris Paul after he and Victor Wembanyama gave their game-worn jerseys to Redick's children following Monday's contest against the Lakers.

The childhood home of the Lakers' longtime videographer was also destroyed.

The Lakers and 11 other Los Angeles-area pro sports teams have pledged to contribute more than $8 million to local relief efforts.

James scored seven straight points down the stretch to help pull away from the Miami Heat in a 117-108 win for the Lakers on Wednesday. The four-time Finals MVP hopes the team can build on the performance and provide the people of Los Angeles a welcome escape.

"Sports has always given people an opportunity to kind of just like temporarily forget about whatever they may have been going through," James said. "And us being such a big part of the L.A. community - along with a lot of other sports teams, but we know how important the Lakers is to the community - hopefully we can provide that to a lot of families."