Kawhi Leonard's feelings after finally making his debut in the 2024/25 season

After 253 days without playing, Kawhi Leonard returned to action last Saturday, something he himself described as the easy part. "There was nothing difficult about playing tonight," declared the Los Angeles Clippers star after his anticipated debut in his team's 131-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at the Intuit Dome. "We took the right steps to get to this point, and playing basketball was the easy part. This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing, having to rehabilitate, and not competing with my teammates."

Leonard scored 12 points in 19 minutes in his first game since the third game of the first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks in April. Since then, the 33-year-old player has been dealing with inflammation in his right knee, the same that was previously operated on, keeping him off the court during training camp, preseason, and the first 34 games of the regular season.

"I took the shots that came to me," explained Leonard. "We're still adjusting to the game's pace. We're not following anyone's schedule. Anyone expecting me to score 20 or 30 points or be aggressive needs to know that we're not following their timeline. We know what we have ahead and must continue building in the right direction. Today we treated it like a preseason game, and we'll continue like that until I can increase my minutes."

Leonard played only 3 minutes and 36 seconds in the second half, all in the third quarter, as the Clippers limited his playing time to 20 minutes. "With him on the court, everything is easier for the rest," commented Clippers coach Ty Lue. "It was good to have him back. Now he has to keep building from this." Lue added, "He's been cleared to play. We're treating it like a preseason for him, to regain his rhythm. The important thing is that he feels good after each game, and we progress with each game. Today was a good start."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Las sensaciones de Kawhi Leonard tras por fin debutar en la temporada 2024/25