Since suffering a laceration in his mouth during the Clippers’ Christmas game against the Denver Nuggets, Kawhi Leonard has been out of service for his team, not fitting in the last two games. Everything changed on Wednesday when he returned to the court against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The injury Leonard suffered required eight stitches and was not fully healed when he returned to court, which meant he had to wear a face shield to protect the mouth area from being hit. But when images of the Clippers star in the mask began to appear, people began to notice that it was a little strange in shape.
Of course, many NBA fans will associate the face mask that players tend to wear with Rip Hamilton, the former Pistons star who started wearing one regularly after breaking his nose twice in one season, and doctors saying he I would need to use one to avoid the need for reconstructive surgery. So, with the familiarity of that mask, which other players have worn since Hamilton wore his in his early years, the difference with Leonard’s is stark.
In many cases, this difference is also quite funny, as many Twitter users pointed out during Wednesday’s game. Here are some of the best tweets about Leonard’s return to court with his interesting new face mask.