Kawhi has 12 in debut, calls playing 'easy part'

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- After 253 days between games, Kawhi Leonard returned to action Saturday -- and that, he said afterward, was the easy part.

"[There] was nothing hard about playing tonight," the LA Clippers star said after making his long-awaited season debut in his team's 131-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks at the Intuit Dome.

"We did the right steps to get me to this point, and playing basketball was the easy part of it. This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing and having to rehab and not competing with my teammates."

Leonard scored 12 points in 19 minutes against Atlanta in what marked his first game since Game 3 of the Clippers' first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks in April.

Since then, Leonard, 33, has been battling inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee, keeping him sidelined for training camp, preseason and his team's 34 previous regular-season games.

Making his first appearance at the team's new $2 billion arena, Leonard was greeted with a strong ovation from fans in the starting lineup announcements, and he made his first shot -- a 3-pointer -- on the left wing with 9:57 remaining in the opening quarter.

His overall game was quiet. He finished 4-of-11 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, while adding three assists, a rebound and a steal.

"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 that wants me to score 20, 30 points or be aggressive, we are 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 played just 3 minutes and 36 seconds in the second half, all of them in the third quarter, as the Clippers sought to keep him at a minutes restriction at 20 minutes.

"You see with his presence on the floor, it makes it a lot easier for everybody else," said Clippers coach Ty Lue. "And so it was good to have him. Now he's got to continue to keep building off of it."

Lue added, "He's cleared to play. Just like I said, we're treating this as a preseason for him so he gets his legs up under him. Make sure to come out of the game tonight, feeling good. And our goal is just to keep progressing every game and so tonight was a good start."

The Clippers dominated the Hawks, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Lakers on Friday, and eight Clippers scored in double figures, led by 20 from guard Norman Powell.

"I've been talking to him, telling him I can't wait for him to come back," Powell said of Leonard. "The attention that's been on me and James [Harden] to start the year ... [but] with Kawhi on the floor, he draws so much attention, double-teams, I'm able to finally get some catch and shoot 3's ..."

Powell added, "I'm really excited. First game, he looked really good. So we'll just continue to try and build on that."

Harden added 15 assists to go along with 10 points, and center Ivica Zubac scored 18 points and grabbed as many rebounds.

The Clippers upgraded Leonard to questionable Friday night, setting the stage for his return.

Previously, Leonard hinted at his impending season debut in a short Dec. 27, 2024, video posted to X that promoted his signature apparel from New Balance, one of his main sponsors. The video showed him fishing. "There's been good days," Leonard said in the video. "There's been bad days. But I keep coming back. It's the nature of the game."

On Saturday morning, Leonard posted a follow-up New Balance video on X, again showing him fishing while birds flew overhead. "You hear them? They like to come and watch the fun and chirp," Leonard said in the video. "But when I show up, they always quiet."

When asked about the videos, Leonard said Saturday, "Just getting creative. I've been talking to a few producers, directors and just wanted to tell my story and it's a little teaser for a movie, so hopefully y'all see it down the road."

Leonard was asked what would signal to him about how his knees are feeling, whether after games or practices. He said he wasn't sure, and that he woke up recently and "it was flared up and I couldn't move, so now I'm just keeping it moving and I don't know, it's just day to day."

Leonard added that his goal was simple: "Just keep playing, not [be] worried about it. Keep doing the things I was doing that we've been doing that [are] getting 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."

Injuries have plagued his career with the Clippers. In April 2023, he tore his right meniscus in the first round of a playoff series against Phoenix. In June 2021, he partially tore the ACL in his right knee in Game 4 of Clippers' Western Conference Semifinals against Utah.

Since joining the Clippers in the summer of 2019, Leonard has played in 257 total games, including playoffs, and has missed 210, according to ESPN Research.