Sports

Juraj Slafkovský and the weight of a nation

Published

3 months ago

October 9, 2024

Juraj Slafkovský and the weight of a nation

When the Montreal Canadiens were considering whether they should use the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft on Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovský, we were given a glimpse at their draft meetings through the team’s annual behind-the-scenes draft video.

In one of those meetings, Canadiens co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov made his pitch for the hulking winger who was a late riser on draft lists that year.

The first of the two most important points made by Bobrov was about Slafkovský’s personality.

“He just has that personality to want to take the bull by the horns,” Bobrov said. “He wants to own the moment, the situation. … He’s doing it with that drive, desire, owning the moment, and it’s a personality trait. It’s more than just a skill, a hockey skill. He just has that personality trait to want to own the stage.”

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The second point was about the pressure Slafkovský had already been living under in his native Slovakia, a country that saw him as the next great hockey hope to follow in the footsteps of Peter Bondra, Žigmund Pálffy, Marián Hossa, Marián Gáborík, Zdeno Chára and many others, and how that environment would prepare him well for the pressure-cooker that is the Montreal hockey market.

“Lastly, a country of five million has been talking about this kid for, what, three years now? Four years now? The pressure on him is a country, and so far he’s handled it unbelievably well,” Bobrov said. “So to gauge how this kid can handle pressure, I think, there’s evidence, and the proof is in the pudding — not only through the tournaments but through a period of time of maybe two and half years to three years where he’s been the next one — and he kept getting better while under the pressure of that five-million population.”

Two years later, Slafkovský is sitting on the verge of NHL stardom, and his second half of last season gave hope the Canadiens were correct in banking on his personality and his ability to handle pressure to take the risk of making the unpopular decision to draft him at No. 1.

But what is that personality? Where does it come from? And what is that Slovak fishbowl Slafkovský has lived in since he was 14? How did it prepare him for what he is now experiencing in Montreal?

We went to the source in search of answers, spending 40 minutes talking to Slafkovský last week to get to the bottom of these two questions. Because those questions are, in many ways, the origin story of why Slafkovský is poised to become a central part of the Canadiens rebuild.

And it begins in Slovakia.

The fishbowl

Slafkovský was not the only Slovak player to be drafted in the first round of the 2022 draft. Šimon Nemec went No. 2 to the New Jersey Devils and Filip Mešár went at No. 26 to the Canadiens. Adam Sýkora went in the second round to the New York Rangers, and two more Slovaks followed in the sixth and seventh rounds that year.

Having four players from Slovakia go in the first two rounds in 2022 matched the country’s total of drafted players from the previous three drafts combined.

But despite having so much company that year, being drafted No. 1 — something no Slovak player had ever done — put Slafkovský into another stratosphere in terms of his celebrity status at home.

“Slovakia is not a big country, so everyone knows him since the day he got drafted first overall,” Mešár said of his good friend. “Obviously everywhere he goes, everything he does, it’s already on the internet every day. Like, the next day. So he has to be smart with the things he does off the ice. I would say everyone’s watching him. He’s the biggest superstar there. So, it’s not easy for him, but he can handle it.”

The highest-drafted Slovak player before Slafkovský was Marián Gáborík, who went No. 3 to the Minnesota Wild in 2000, a draft spot Nemec also surpassed when he was picked second. When Nemec goes home, he too feels the glare of that fishbowl.

But not like Slafkovský.

“I have a little bit of trouble, and he’s got really big trouble,” Nemec said. “That’s the difference.”

Slovak countrymen Šimon Nemec, left, Juraj Slafkovský, center, and Filip Mešár pose at the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

It is the type of celebrity status that is difficult to understand, even in Montreal where Canadiens players are treated like gods. But it’s not the same.

“I can’t remember (seeing) that popular of a guy in Slovakia,” Nemec said. “I think he has a good mind and he’s doing really good now. I think he doesn’t feel the pressure of the Slovak people. … The pressure is hard, but I think he can do it.”

For Slafkovský, however, it is not as easy as he makes it seem to his good friends Mešár and Nemec. It is a constant grind. When he goes out to eat with his friends, he visits restaurants owned by his friends’ parents, comes in through the back door and dines in a private room. He will not go to a bar and grab a drink with friends. He avoids doing groceries or shopping with his little sister because the excursion turns into an extended photo shoot. Photos of his home get published in the media. Photos of his mother’s gym get published in the local media. Any morsel of information on him, no matter how banal, is fodder for a story.

And so when Slafkovský goes home, he hides. He doesn’t have to hide in Montreal.

“No, Montreal is way better. I do everything. Montreal, I can go shopping. Like, if I go grocery shopping back home, I probably take 25 pictures. Here it’s more diverse, different types of people from different parts of the world, so not everyone knows you. In Slovakia, everyone knows you. In a store, the girl that sells you stuff knows you, if you go clean a suit they know you there, if you go buy a book, she knows you. It’s not like that here,” Slafkovský said.

“I never had this happen here. Everyone is always saying, oh, the Montreal media. I never had anything like this happening here. You focus on hockey, and if I made 17 bad passes, you’re probably going to say 23, but I get that. That’s completely fine with me. But don’t take pictures of my house. I have kids ringing my bell every day (in Slovakia). I don’t live in downtown Košice, I live outside the city, but now everyone knows where I live because it was in the media.

“I’ve learned how to live with it, but it just pisses me off inside. I’ll say it. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Slafkovský has refused to give interviews with several Slovak journalists. One of them is Štefan Bugan, of the media outlet Denník N, whose life has been turned upside down trying to report on Slafkovský.

The history of Slovak hockey is important to understand when trying to make sense of the infatuation people there have with Slafkovský, the context of what creates this hysteria that surrounds him at all times.

It goes back to the dissolution of the former Czechoslovakia, Bugan says. When Slovakia became its own country, the hockey program was dropped into the third tier of international hockey. It was slowly built up to the point where Slovakia won the silver medal at the 2000 world championships and two years later, won the gold medal. It was a watershed moment in the country, contributing to a sense of identity the country was seeking ever since the dissolution in 1993.

“It’s one of the biggest things that ever happened in this country,” Bugan said of the world championships gold. “Not sports things, but overall. It was kind of a unifying moment for the country.”

That was a golden era of Slovak hockey, but then a lull hit, and Slafkovský is seen as the face of the end of that lull. Which explains the media coverage he gets at home.

This is why Bugan spent the last two seasons, as long as Slafkovský was healthy, living a bizarre life in Slovakia.

“When you wake up in Slovakia you have a lot of articles about how Slovak players played. Not just Juraj, other players too, but he’s the main story when he’s playing,” Bugan said. “The usual coverage is the journalist wakes up at maybe 5 a.m., which in Montreal is about 11 p.m. after the game, and he just watches the highlights and reads some tweets and he writes a story. When he has no points, it’s that Slafkovský played terrible, something negative. I don’t like it because it’s not the real thing. So last season, I watched every shift of Slafkovský. Every one.

“I was living in Slovakia on Canadian time.”

But Slafkovský does not see it the same way, even if he understands the source of that media coverage is how much his country loves him. He sees it as toxic — something that affects not only his quality of life, but that of his family as well.

Still, his status as Slovakia’s next big star is something Slafkovský fully embraces.

“Oh, I love it,” he said. “Like I said, I want to be the best and I always wanted to be the best. So obviously I want to be the best Slovakian player. I’m fine with that. I just hate what comes with it because I see other countries and I see other players that don’t have this, even though they’re better players than me.”

And that line — how he’s always wanted to be the best — is where the personality comes in.

The personality

When asked what he means by wanting to be the best, whether he means the best in the world or the best version of himself, Slafkovský pauses briefly to think.

“I would say the best version of myself,” he said. “But I think if I’m the best version of myself, I can be one of the best in the world. Obviously you have special players in this world, and I don’t know if I can be on the level of a (Connor) McDavid or a (Nathan) MacKinnon or a (Auston) Matthews, but I can bring something. And to me, the answer to this is how many rings you have at the end of your career.”

Then he pauses again, to look at his hand, with no rings on it.

“If you can look at your hand like this and you have at least two,” he continues, “then you can say you were pretty good.”

Slafkovský has lived with that level of scrutiny in Slovakia since he was roughly 14 years old, and the Canadiens assumed this scrutiny shaped his personality. But it dates back much further than that. So much so that Slafkovský doesn’t remember a time he wasn’t this way.

“I think it’s just that I always wanted to be the best, in everything I did, even outside hockey. Any competition, I wanted to be the best,” he said. “And I never cared. I don’t think I ever cared. I only cared what my coach said, but I never really cared what people had to say. It probably was bad when I was a kid in school and stuff, but I think I was the same way. Someone would tell me something, and I would be like, ‘Nah.’ I would have my own truth in my head. It’s kind of bad when you’re a kid, but then when you grow up, I feel like that kind of helps me.”

There’s more to it than that. When he took some time to think about it, Slafkovský was able to figure out where this comes from.

His mother, Gabriela.

She is headstrong. She doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

“My mom never had that many friends because she was always honest with everyone and she always said what she thought. If it was bad or good, she would say it. If she was thinking something bad about someone, tell them right away,” Slafkovský said. “I’m the same way…So I think it’s because of my mom and the way she is. I’m pretty much just like her.

“I think it was always there because of her. Because of what I saw.”

And to understand just how headstrong Slafkovský is at age 20, you only need to get him back talking about Slovakia and the state of the game in his home country.

“I can say so much s–t about Slovakia right now that I want to change,” he began. “But I won’t.”

And then he did. Because Slafkovský doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

“The Slovak hockey federation, a couple of things have to change there for us to be successful again,” he said. “Because I feel we got the Olympic (bronze) medal (in 2022), and people get satisfied by these things, but that was lucky because there was no NHL players. Let’s be honest, we wouldn’t have won that medal if everyone had their full squad. But we get satisfied by these little things. … We think we’re doing things the right way, but we’re not. We’re just pretending. And we are trying to sell it to the people that we’re doing things the right way by pushing these fake results.

“Obviously it’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me that I won the Olympic medal, but be honest about it.”

Juraj Slafkovský celebrates after scoring for Slovakia in the bronze-medal game at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. (Gabriel Bouys / AFP via Getty Images)

Slafkovský said he thinks hockey in Slovakia needs wholesale changes, that there are not enough quality coaches and that decisions are too often made for the wrong reasons, because of who a player’s father is or whom he knows instead of how well he can play. When he was 12, Slafkovský’s father got together with a group of other parents and formed an elite select team that traveled to the Québec City peewee tournament and other North American events. Eight players who participated in that program were drafted in 2022 or 2023, and another was signed as an undrafted free agent.

There was one player drafted out of Slovakia in 2024.

“Let’s just say all these players that got drafted went through that team,” Slafkovský said. “So that shows something, no?”

The reason the fathers put that select team together, Slafkovský said, was to get their kids out of the hockey system and the nepotism that defines it. One example he cited is the U16 and U17 national programs that run camps in the summer refuse to invite players who are playing overseas in North America because, he said, “the people running it are scared that their own kid won’t play, or he knows this guy’s father and his kid needs to play.”

“It’s all about connections in Slovakia,” he said. “I see it, and everyone is scared to talk about it.”

So, what were Slafkovský’s connections?

“Me? Yeah, I could play hockey, that was my connection,” he said. “There was no option for them because I knew how to play, actually.”

The solution, Slafkovský believes, is to “freshen up” the Slovak hockey federation.

“Probably we need more people to work for the federation, but no one wants to work for that,” he said. “You think Hossa wants to work for the federation? No. Gáborík? No. It’s because of some people that are already there, they do it their own way, so they benefit from it, and not Slovak hockey.

“That’s my opinion.”

This is a lot for a 20-year-old to have on his plate: the state of hockey in his home country, the constant media attention in his home country and managing those two realities of his life at home.

In the middle of all that, being a vital part of the Canadiens rebuild seems relatively minor. But it’s not.

As Slafkovský said, he will measure his career based on the number of rings on his fingers, and in order to achieve that, this rebuild will need to be successful. He has always measured his success through team success because he has evidence of that being true. Many felt he was stifled playing in Finland for TPS Turku, but he disagrees because he played in the Liiga finals in his draft year. The fact Slovakia won that Olympic bronze medal, regardless of the level of competition, allowed Slafkovský to play more games and eventually be named MVP of the tournament.

And now, with everything his life at home has taught him and his inherently independent convictions, Slafkovský is ready to use all his baggage to take that same step with the Canadiens.

“People always want to have winners on their teams,” he said. “I’d rather have a winner that scores five less goals than some loser that just focuses on scoring 40 goals.”

It’s safe to say the Canadiens share his opinion on that.

(Top photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

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Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton heard the haters, and now he and Indiana are clapping back

Published

57 minutes ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton heard the haters, and now he and Indiana are clapping back

The trolls finally got one, but not for long.

NBA social media has become a cesspool of negativity, where fans come together to commiserate about why this player is overrated and that team is garbage. Today’s athletes are so inundated with criticism from the anonymous morass that most of them have learned to push it away.

Even when it affects them, they rarely admit it publicly. Bullies only get their power from the acknowledgment. But everybody has their moments.

For the first month of this season, as his Indiana Pacers were losing and he was playing his worst basketball in years, that was Tyrese Haliburton. To the outside world, it looked like his dominant form from 2023 may have been a mirage. Internally, Haliburton started to wonder if they were right.

“I got too caught up in outside noise and allowing myself to think such negative thoughts about myself internally,” Haliburton shared with The Athletic recently. “It was the first time in my life that I had real self-doubt behind everything I was doing. … I feel like my personal struggles were leading to the team’s struggles.

“A lot of our games early, that we were right there to win, I just wasn’t playing my best basketball and I think that was taking away from us winning games.”

Last season, the Pacers marched on to the Eastern Conference finals, even if Haliburton’s form fell off after a midseason hamstring injury. They entered this campaign with hopes of taking the next step, but things went south early on as their star player still looked like a shell of himself.

When Haliburton was in a funk in the past, he would pull out his phone and seek the trolls trashing him. He often would do it during halftime, looking for fuel to power the Pacers’ redlining offense. Proving haters wrong was the cathartic release he needed to get in touch with himself and his game.

The problem was — from the moment this season started — he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t clap back. He went scoreless in the second game of the season, a blowout loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and knew something wasn’t right.

Haliburton was telling confidants that he was playing poorly, reading his mentions and actually agreeing for a change. That’s when his skills trainer Drew Hanlen could see the pressure was getting to the 24-year-old.

“This year, for whatever reason, it was just hurting him,” Hanlen said.

The more he struggled, the more he receded into old habits. Haliburton lost his aggression to attack the paint, unable to beat defenders with a first step off of that recovering hamstring.

He looked tentative, trying to sit back as a distributor and losing some of the edge that made him a two-time All-Star. The problem was twofold, starting with his health.

“He rushed back early last year to make the All-NBA 65-game rule and he was never fully healthy,” Hanlen said. “Then at the Olympics, he re-aggravated it. So after the Olympics, he couldn’t work out and had to let it heal. So he worked out zero times the entire summer.”

The breaking point came in Charlotte on Nov. 8, a 20-point loss that sent the team spiraling below .500. He once again missed every 3, couldn’t get to the line and fully accepted he was the problem.

“It was so bad,” Haliburton said. “That was the first time I was so frustrated with myself, so frustrated with the group. But it was more about myself. How can I be better?”

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton hit rock bottom in a loss at Charlotte on Nov. 8. (Robert Goddin / Imagn Images)

It started with cutting out the distractions and sources of anxiety. He deleted X from his phone in an attempt to go cold turkey on immersive doomscrolling. He started going back to church, recognizing he was getting caught up within himself and wanting to look at the positives in life.

“That’s been good for me to read my Bible more. It’s been good for me,” he said. “My relationship with the Lord has been really big for me internally, to be the best version of myself and just trying to pour energy into our group and that’s been helping us.

“After that, things have clicked and changed for me. I feel light years better.”

Haliburton was not the same player entering the season, but the Pacers changed as well. Andrew Nembhard showed in the postseason he could be the two-way guard the team needed, while Bennedict Mathurin’s return from a torn labrum added another scorer to the mix.

This roster did not call for Haliburton to dominate the ball like he did in the past, especially with his quickness in the half court diminished. To figure out his future with the Pacers, he had to tap into his past.

When he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2020, he had to squeeze his distinct skill set into a crowded backcourt. De’Aaron Fox was the star point guard and Buddy Hield was the shooting guard, two traditional representations of the positions. Where did a fluid playmaker fit into the dynamic?

Hield taught him how to move in space to make himself open, even when the opposing coach wrote on the locker room whiteboard with a cascade of underlines to not let that happen. Though Haliburton said he initially couldn’t stand the way Hield played, they eventually found a synergy playing off each other. When the two friends were traded to the Pacers together, coach Rick Carlisle put the ball in Haliburton’s hands full time and they started running the two-man actions they were developing in Sacramento.

While the focus on Haliburton’s struggles in early 2024 focused on his hamstring injury, it coincided with Hield being traded to Philadelphia. But Nembhard’s emergence allowed Haliburton to operate as more of a two-guard, putting into practice the lessons he learned from Hield.

“Since Buddy’s been gone, I’ve learned to play off the ball a little bit more,” Haliburton said. “It’s been part of the growth figuring out how I can stay involved while off the ball, how I can use my gravity as a shooter. I just try to use my gravity to impact the game in other ways. I think that’s what I learned from Buddy, playing aside him for so long.”

Haliburton is not the typical point guard who can beat anyone off the bounce. He has a high dribble, is not overtly physical and doesn’t have a bag of go-to shots like most All-Star playmakers. He is someone who thrives in chaos, getting where he wants when he is up in transition or attacking against the grain of the defense.

Nembhard running point allows Haliburton to leak out in transition earlier, so he can then run around screens to catch the ball on the move. It also allows Haliburton to set up a cross-match early in a possession, like when he got Miami’s Haywood Highsmith off him before the play began so he could attack Tyler Herro in space.

Now Haliburton is finally starting to get downhill more consistently from give-and-go actions with Myles Turner by refining that combo guard role he first learned in Sacramento. In recent weeks, Turner and Haliburton have looked more in sync, as evidenced by Turner knowing where Haliburton was cutting even when getting the ball at an awkward spot on the floor.

“I think that Ty is finally starting to realize that he can get guys so much more open than just passing the ball,” Turner told The Athletic. “He talks to me, like, ‘Yo, go right here and do this and do this, and do that.’ And then lo and behold, I get the ball. So I think he’s starting to analyze the game a lot more, and then he picks and chooses his spots to start scoring.”

The true turning point came at the end of 2024. Haliburton had his worst performance since the first week of the season when they blew a fourth-quarter lead in Oklahoma City on Dec. 26 and then looked passive the next night in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.

But they stuck around Boston and he looked more aggressive than ever in a rematch two nights later, scoring 10 of his 11 baskets inside the arc to take the Celtics out in crunchtime. Sprinting over Turner screens while Nembhard handled the ball, getting to the rim suddenly seemed easy.

Haliburton recorded 33 points and 15 assists with six 3s and no turnovers at Miami last week. The only other time that has happened in NBA history was on Nov. 14, 2023 — by Tyrese Haliburton.

With Nembhard back in the lineup, Haliburton finally looks free.

“Their importance to each other is evident,” Carlisle said. “They complement each other well. Andrew allows Ty to play off the ball and when Ty has the ball, Drew knows the game and knows how to play without the ball too.”

Indiana fell into a hole when Nembhard missed 12 straight games in November due to left knee tendinitis, but the Pacers have flipped their season around since his return in early December. He is the spirit of their defense and the glue to their offense. Multiple players on the team called him their X-factor to winning.

They enter Friday’s game versus Golden State at 10-3 since Dec. 13, ranking fourth in the league in net rating at plus-8.7 over that stretch, per Cleaning the Glass. Indiana (20-18) has gone from 11th to sixth place in the Eastern Conference entering Friday, and Haliburton is finally starting to look like the All-Star he was a season ago.

He’s averaging 20.4 points and 9.6 assists per game while shooting 40.2 percent from 3 during this time. Of the 25 lineups with at least 300 possessions played this season, the Pacers’ starting group with Nembhard has the league’s best defensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass.

They are finally coming together now that Haliburton has the backcourt partner he needs to free up his game, looking like an evolution of the team that nearly beat the Celtics four times in the conference finals but never sneaked away with a win.

As Carlisle made clear recently during a West Coast trip in late December, the Pacers welcome all those expectations that were earned from last season’s run.

“We’re trying to win a championship,” he reminded a room full of reporters.

His presence alone is proof positive of their mission, as the coach who won it all with Dallas in 2011 came to Indiana a decade later with the expressed intent of turning this team into a legitimate title contender.

Their group moved closer toward that goal with the Pascal Siakam trade last season, landing the two-time All-Star forward who signed a four-year, $189.5 million extension in the summer. And when the Pacers stumbled early — due to a rash of injuries to nearly half of Indiana’s rotation — Carlisle wasn’t about to let any of the outside skepticism seep into his program. So he kept pushing.

“There’s nothing wrong with high expectations,” said the 65-year-old Carlisle, who is 11th all-time in wins among coaches. “What you don’t want is a situation of apathy, where expectations are low and all you’re ever doing is selling hope. That’s not why I came here, that’s not why (Pacers president of basketball operations) Kevin Pritchard is doing his job and that’s not what our ownership is about.”

Health remains an issue. Small forward Aaron Nesmith (left ankle) has been out since Nov. 1. There was the Nembhard injury. Second-year guard Ben Sheppard missed a month with an oblique and rib injury. Big men Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman, who were slated to support Turner down low as key reserves, both suffered torn Achilles’ tendons within days of one another at the start of the season. The Pacers had to hit the transaction market earlier than expected to bring in Thomas Bryant as the new backup big.

The Pacers are over .500 now, but their identity is solidifying as the team gets closer to full health. The championship aspirations that seemed farfetched a few weeks ago are at least reasonable once again.

“It’s just not being satisfied. That was the message in training camp,” Turner said. “Obviously, we had a hell of a run last year, but let’s stop talking about last year. That’s over and done with. And yeah, we’re pushing toward a (NBA) Finals run. That’s really where all of our eyes should be in this locker room.”

The fans still flooding Haliburton’s mentions will probably laugh at that notion. He is still searching for consistency and will have to push through his latest mild ankle sprain to ensure he doesn’t fall back into old habits again. But he won’t have to face that music now unless he wants to.

“(Fans) can’t wait for a team to be doing bad so people can dunk on you on Twitter, you know what I mean? The s— is so stupid,” Haliburton said. “It’s just part of it. People want to see us not do well so they can talk s—.”

Now that Haliburton is in a better place, maybe he can crack his phone open, see a bunch of trash emojis and crack a smile. They can talk all they want, but he’s ready to clap back on his terms, one drive at a time.

(Top photo of Haliburton: Catalina Fragoso / NBAE via Getty Images)

Sports

NFL Draft prospect Kyren Lacy wanted for negligent homicide for alleged role in fatal hit-and-run

Published

2 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

NFL Draft prospect Kyren Lacy wanted for negligent homicide for alleged role in fatal hit-and-run

Police in Louisiana have issued an arrest warrant for LSU receiver and NFL Draft prospect Kyren Lacy for negligent homicide after police allege he fled a deadly car crash last month.

Louisiana State Police said in a press release issued Friday that Lacy, 24, was driving “recklessly” and speeding past other cars while driving on the highway Dec. 17.

Kyren Lacy of the LSU Tigers scores a touchdown against the Oklahoma Sooners Nov. 30, 2024, in Baton Rouge. (Imagn)

According to police, Lacy was “crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated No-Passing Zone” when a driver of a pickup truck in the northbound lane swerved to avoid a head-on collision with Lacy.

The actions of the pickup truck caused the driver of the vehicle immediately behind it, a Kia Cadenza, to swerve to avoid colliding with Lacy’s car, but the driver instead collided head-on with another vehicle in the southbound lane.

A passenger in the Kia Cadenza identified as 78-year-old Herman Hall was transported to a hospital before eventually dying, police said.

In addition to being wanted for negligent homicide, Lacy is facing a felony hit-and-run charge after police say he “drove around the crash scene and fled” without stopping to render aid or call 911. He also allegedly failed to notify law enforcement about his involvement.

LSU Tigers wide receiver Kyren Lacy (2) runs after a catch and scores a touchdown against Oklahoma Sooners defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. (2) during the first quarter at Tiger Stadium. (Stephen Lew/Imagn Images)

RAMS STAR RECEIVER DEMARCUS ROBINSON CHARGED WITH DUI FROM HIS NOVEMBER ARREST, DAYS BEFORE PLAYOFF GAME

Lacy’s warrant also includes a charge of reckless operation of a vehicle. According to Louisiana State Police, the former LSU star has since been in contact with law enforcement.

Lacy transferred to LSU in 2022. This season, he caught 58 passes for 866 yards and nine touchdowns. He did not play in LSU’s win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl Dec. 31.

Lacy declared for the 2025 NFL Draft just two days after the crash.

LSU Tigers wide receiver Kyren Lacy runs onto the field as seniors are honored at Tiger Stadium. (Stephen Lew/Imagn Images)

“LSU has truly made a big impact on my life on and off the field, these past 3 years. Playing in Death Valley, for the best fans in the country, was an experience I will never forget. Not too many people get to fulfill a dream like this. I am forever grateful for it,” Lacy wrote in his announcement.

“I want to express my appreciation to all my coaches, support staff, and trainers for helping develop me as a football player, but most importantly as a person. Although, we didn’t accomplish our goal of winning a national championship, I promise to take all of those life lessons with me in the next chapter of my life.”

LSU did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Lakers coach JJ Redick vows to help rebuild L.A. after losing home in fire

Published

2 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Lakers coach JJ Redick vows to help rebuild L.A. after losing home in fire

Lakers coach JJ Redick, speaking for the first time since he and his family had their Pacific Palisades home destroyed by a fire that devastated a community, fought back tears as he talked about the loss he and his neighbors suffered, the resolve to rebuild Los Angeles and the sanctuary basketball provided him on Friday as the team held a practice.

The Lakers are scheduled to host San Antonio on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, and despite the unimaginable loss Redick and his family suffered this week, he wants the Lakers to play.

“Being around the guys and coaching — and I told them this — we’re prepared for whatever tomorrow. We obviously are going to work with the NBA, the Spurs, the city and do what’s right,” he said. “I want to play tomorrow, I want to coach tomorrow. I want these guys to play tomorrow and if we can play, we’ll play.

“I do believe for everybody, for everybody that has been impacted by this, there is a grieving process. There’s a healing process. I can only speak for myself, part of my healing and grieving process is being here with these guys and coaching basketball.”

Tears filled Redick’s eyes as he recounted a conversation he had with his wife, Chelsea, after seeing the destruction in Pacific Palisades with his own eyes Wednesday morning.

“I’m not sure I’ve wept or wailed like that in several years,” he said. “And she said to me, ‘I was very hesitant to move out here. I was very hesitant for you to go into coaching. I’ve never loved living somewhere more than I’ve loved Brooklyn, and I’ve never loved the community more than I love the community I’ve had in Brooklyn. And then, you know, it’s like, we move out here and the Palisades community has really just been so good to us.’

“And … I think that’s the part for us that we’re really struggling with is just the loss of community. And I recognize that people make up community, and we’re going to rebuild and we want to help lead on that. But all the churches, the schools, the library, like it’s all gone.”

In particular, the community’s recreation center had become an important place to the family beginning with the first time they saw the house that they rented and filled with their most important possessions while trying to find a permanent base in Los Angeles.

“The day we visited the house and decided we wanted to live in the house, we’re like, let’s go explore the village. And we stumbled upon the rec center and there was some summer rec league basketball games going on. One kid, Milo, was playing. I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty good.’ He ended up being one of our neighbors; they lost their home. The rec center was like this, this place we were at every day. I mean, flag football, basketball, the playground, baseball, tennis courts. Like it’s just … and everyone we knew was there every day. And … it just hurts to lose that.”

Redick said he and his family were committed to being a part of the recovery effort in the city.

“For our family, we’re as committed as ever to Los Angeles,” he said. “We recognize, like it’s not just our community that has been impacted by this. There’s people in Malibu, there’s people in Brentwood, there’s people up in the Valley, there’s people in Pasadena … it’s all over L.A. And if there’s anything we can do to help and lead, we will. … We’re still figuring that out. It’s still pretty fresh, but, we’re committed to helping other people as much as we can. And we’re going to do that. And we recognize that it’s going to be a long process. …

“This has impacted so many people. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me and my family. We’re gonna be all right. We’re gonna be all right. There’s people that, um, you know, because of some political issues and some insurance issues are not going to be all right. And we’re going to do everything we can to help anybody who’s down and out because of this.”