Kawhi Leonard scores 12 points in his return as Clippers dominate Hawks

Kawhi Leonard leaned forward while sitting at the dais with his arms crossed and a black scarf on his head while giving his first interview of the 2024-25 season.

The Clippers star looked at the media asking him questions about the inflammation in his right knee that kept him out of the team’s first 34 games. Leonard took his time answering in his deep voice, making sure he was emphatic with each statement.

Leonard didn’t play much in the Clippers’ 131-105 rout of the Atlanta Hawks at the Intuit Dome on Saturday night. Taking only 11 shots, he finished with 12 points and three rebounds in 19 minutes, 25 seconds of playing time.

The Clippers (20-15) didn’t need much else from Leonard after building a 20-point halftime lead over Atlanta (18-18) behind a 45-point second quarter.

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“I took the shots that I got,” Leonard said. “We’re still easing me into the game. We’re on nobody’s, I guess, timetable. Anybody watching who wants me to score 20, 30 points or be aggressive, we’re not on no one’s time frame. We know what’s ahead of us and we have to keep building in the right direction. So, we’re facing it like it was a preseason game tonight and we’ll keep moving the same way until I’m able to build up my minutes.”

Leonard made his first shot, a three-pointer from the wing with 9:58 left in the first quarter.

“It was nothing hard about playing tonight. We did the right steps to get me to this point,” Leonard said. “Playing basketball was the easy part of it. This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing, having to rehab and not competing with my teammates.”

Leonard played in just two of the Clippers’ six playoff games against the Mavericks in April. He worked out with USA Basketball in July for the Paris Olympics, but was sent home because of his knee.

That led to a long arduous rehabilitation for Leonard that included plenty of five-on-five practices.

He now says he is healthy.

“Just keep playing, not worried about it,” Leonard said. “Keep doing the things I was doing, that we’ve been doing to get me to this point and that’s it. That’s all I can ask for and do. It’s out of my control and we’ll see what happens.”

As the Clippers move forward, starting with Monday’s game at Minnesota, they will continue to monitor Leonard’s knee.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said they want to “make sure there is no swelling” and “make sure he feels good.”

“Like I said, we’re treating this as a preseason game until he gets his legs up under him,” Lue said. “Make sure coming out of the game tonight that he’s feeling good and our goal is to keep progressing every game. So tonight was a good start.”

The Clippers are basically whole now, with Leonard and key reserve Terance Mann back. Mann, who finished with 12 points on five-for-five shooting, had missed 11 games with a finger injury.

With so many options at his disposal, James Harden had 13 of his 15 assists by halftime. Norman Powell led the Clippers with 20 points on eight-of-16 shooting. Trae Young led Atlanta with 20 points, 14 assists and four rebounds.

But this night was about Leonard and his return to action.

“This is the most serious he’s taken playing five-on-five and pick-up since he’s been here over the course of doing his rehab,” Lue said before the game. “But he really went full speed. He was really locked in on just testing it out, seeing how he felt. He really did a good job in his rehabbing process and just making sure that we checked every box, because if he didn’t go hard we wouldn’t let him come back. So, he really did that. He was really serious about his rehab.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.