INGLEWOOD \u2014 Kawhi Leonard let the slightest smirk evade the corner of his mouth as he stoically swayed during the player introductions before Sunday\u2019s new-look NBA All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
No nod, no wave for\u00a0his Intuit Dome crowd. Leonard\u2019s silence, a cornerstone of the seven-time All-Star\u2019s personality, is part of what makes the 34-year-old Moreno Valley product a compelling figure in the NBA. But across All-Star Weekend, Leonard made nothing but noise on his name alone.<\/p>\n
Talk about the two-time NBA Finals MVP\u2019s snub-turned-selection<\/a> for the festivities. Chat about his views on the All-Star Game\u2019s ever-evolving formats<\/a>. Or listen to NBA commissioner Adam Silver<\/a> answer hot-button questions on Leonard and the league\u2019s ongoing investigation into potential salary cap infractions involving the Clippers. Leonard answered the noise himself by doing what he does best: playing competitive basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I come in to play basketball, I\u2019ve got one way,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cObviously nobody is trying to get hurt. I\u2019m going to try to attack, try to get some shots up. I don\u2019t like people just scoring on me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Klaw\u201d was not named the All-Star Game MVP, but the Clippers\u2019 forward made Sunday evening memorable with an offensive flurry for Team USA Stripes. Leonard\u2019s shots kept going down during a dominant display in the round-robin tournament\u2019s third mini-game against Victor Wembanyama and Team World. Leonard poured in 31 points on 11-of-13 shooting (6 for 7 from 3-point range) across a 12-minute span to remember.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got a guy like Kawhi going for 30, making every shot,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cI started guarding him for sure. Tried my best.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonard played all 12 minutes in two of his team\u2019s three games. He made his first seven shots with five 3-pointers amid raucous cheers. To finish off Team World, Leonard challenged Karl-Anthony Towns one-on-one at the top of the key, draining a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in a 48-45 win as he pointed to the Clipper fan-laden section dubbed \u201cThe Wall\u201d as they chanted his name.<\/p>\n San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, who coached Leonard and Team Stripes to a runner-up finish, said Leonard\u2019s dominance on Sunday is a testament to his \u201cexcellence over time.\u201d Norman Powell, who played for the Clippers from 2022-2025, said his former teammate\u2019s All-Star takeover was just the expected when it comes to Leonard.<\/p>\n \u201cUs guys putting on that jersey that\u2019s played with him, know his approach, know his ability and know what he wants to do every single time he steps on the floor,\u201d said Powell, who represented his Jamaican heritage with Team World on Sunday.<\/p>\n Spurs guard De\u2019Aaron Fox recalled working out with Leonard in San Diego during the offseason a few years ago, watching his now-All-Star teammate flex his strength on the court, placing purpose into every dribble, shot and free throw, he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s why, Fox says, Leonard is one of the \u201ctop-10 most-skilled\u201d players in NBA history.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no wasted motion in anything that he does. It\u2019s simply amazing how good he is. And that\u2019s like, bro; that\u2019s why no one guards you one-on-one,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re sending doubles at you. We send three guys at you. We try to make somebody else shoot the ball if you\u2019re in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s Brandon Ingram, who was also a late addition to the All-Star Game alongside Leonard, said he spent the weekend watching how his teammates \u2013 including the likes of Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Steph Curry \u2013 prepared with their respective routines. But when it came to watching Leonard, Ingram said, there\u2019s nothing to observe.<\/p>\n Leonard lurked in the background of the All-Star hubbub, leaving his noise on the court as the only routine Ingram could watch.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, (Leonard) don\u2019t say nothing,\u201d Ingram said. \u201cHe went out on the floor. He knew what he wanted to get to. He knew what he wanted to do. And he went out and did it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD \u2014 Kawhi Leonard let the slightest smirk evade the corner of his mouth as he stoically swayed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,559,11029,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-605673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-intuit-dome","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116078244859184386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}