Kawhi Leonard appeared in his first game of the season in Saturday’s 131-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, and the forward Los Angeles Clippers He says playing for the first time in 253 days was the “easy part.”
“There was nothing difficult about playing tonight,” Leonard told reporters, according to ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.
The two-time Finals MVP NBA He recorded 12 points in 19 minutes after missing the first 34 games of the season and preseason due to inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee.
Leonard last played in Game 3 of the first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks in April.
“We made the right steps to get to this point, and playing basketball was the easy part. This is what I like to do. The hard part is not playing and having to rehab and not compete with my teammates,” added Leonard .
Leonard was 4 of 11 from the floor and 3 of 5 from the perimeter along with three assists, a rebound and a steal. Norm Powell’s 20 points led the Clippers, who had eight players score in double figures.
“I took the shots I got,” Leonard said. “We’re still easing into the game. We’re in no man’s land, I guess. Anyone who sees that wants me to score 20, 30 points or be aggressive, we’re not in anyone’s time frame.”
The 33-year-old Los Angeles native received a warm reception in his first game in the Clippers’ $2 billion Intuit Dome. Leonard played just 3:36 in the second half as coach Ty Lue adhered to a minutes restriction.
“You see with his presence in the game, it makes it a lot easier for everyone else,” Lue told Holmes. “So it was good to have him. Now he’s got to keep building off of him.”
Lue continued: “He’s cleared to play. Like I said, we’re treating this like a preseason for him, so he gets his legs up under him. Make sure you come out of the game tonight feeling good. And our goal is to continue to make progress every game , so tonight was a good start.”
Leonard’s knee injury was the latest in a series of setbacks since he joined the Clippers as a free agent in July 2019 after leading the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title.
He has appeared in 257 regular-season and playoff games and missed 210 contests, according to ESPN. Leonard was sidelined due to a partially torn ACL in his right knee suffered in Game 4 of the 2021 Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. That was followed by a meniscus tear in the same knee sustained in the 2023 first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns.
