Kawhi Leonard didn’t just have a big night Sunday in Inglewood, he had the kind of night that makes the box score look fake and the opponent feel like it spent 48 minutes defending a ghost.
Against the East-leading Detroit Pistons, Leonard detonated for a career-high 55 points in the LA Clippers’ 112–99 win at Intuit Dome, matching the franchise single-game scoring record and dragging the Clippers’ season into a suddenly different tone: alive.
This wasn’t empty calorie scoring, either. Leonard shot 17-for-26 from the field, hit five threes, and lived at the line (16-for-17). He grabbed 11 rebounds, and the defensive line was just as loud: five steals and three blocks… the full “Kawhi package”.
A MASTERPIECE FROM KAWHI LEONARD!
🖐️ 55 PTS (career-high)
🖐️ 11 REB
🖐️ 5 STL
🖐️ 3 BLK
🖐️ 5 3PMThat ties the Clippers franchise record for PTS in a game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PMacnRiUxW
— NBA (@NBA) December 29, 2025
The third quarter was where it turned from “hot” to “historic.” Leonard poured in 26 points in the period alone, blowing the game open whenever Detroit hinted at momentum.
The Pistons twice cut the margin to single digits in the third, but every time they reached for oxygen, Leonard took it away; a pull-up here, a corner three there, a mid-post fade that looked like it was guided by muscle memory more than the defense in front of him.
There was even a twist that felt perfectly Leonard: he could have tried to own the franchise record outright, but chose not to chase it.
“Like I told (Lue), I would rather play another game than go out there and risk it,” Leonard said afterward. “Hopefully we can get another win and be in the same situation. It is what it is.”
That line is pure Kawhi; the rare superstar who can torch you for 55 and still sound like he’s talking about filing paperwork.
James Harden, who added 28 points and watched Leonard’s eruption up close, sounded more like the rest of us: stunned, happy, and a little relieved.
“It was a beautiful thing to see how efficient, how effortless it was,” Harden said. “It was just so smooth. He got to whatever spot he wanted to and once you get to that spot it’s not even about the defender. It’s about him making the shot. … For him, what he had to battle through just to go out there and be himself was a beautiful thing to see.”
The subtext matters. Leonard has been slowed by injuries in recent seasons, and even this year he missed time earlier with ankle and foot issues. But lately, the minutes have climbed, the rhythm has returned, and the Clippers have started stacking wins: four straight now, after a stretch where they had dropped 10 of 11.
Tyronn Lue didn’t overcomplicate what everyone in the building could see.
“He’s finally getting healthy and finally being able to play enough minutes to be very effective,” Lue said. “When he’s healthy, he’s one of the top guys in the league. We’ve been able to see that of late.”
Leonard, for his part, framed it as a shift in responsibility, not a heater, but an evolution.
“I’ve never really kind of been in this situation,” he said. “I’m more trying to get guys the ball and sharing it more than what I have been doing. But the coaches need me to be aggressive the entire game. … It’s just a different evolution of me trying to shoot more 3s and trying to evolve my game to today’s game.”
Detroit didn’t fold quietly. Cade Cunningham scored 27 points; all in the second half after foul trouble and a scoreless first half, and Jalen Duren worked inside for 18 points and 14 rebounds. But the Pistons couldn’t buy threes early (0-for-12 in the first half) and spent too much of the night reacting to a Clippers team that played like it knew exactly where the advantage was.
The strangest detail in all of it might have been how “old” the Clippers looked on paper and how young they played in reality. With Ivica Zubac out, Lue leaned into a veteran-heavy group, and Leonard responded with a performance that didn’t just beat the Pistons, it announced that the Clippers’ ceiling depends on one thing more than any scheme or rotation: whether Kawhi can keep being Kawhi.
