It's Year 4 of the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era with the Los Angeles Clippers, and there have been lots of roadblocks in their pursuit of a championship, including, but not limited to, injuries and chemistry problems.

Nevertheless, the Clippers enter the 2022-23 season with high hopes, especially after Leonard had made his much-awaited comeback from the ACL injury he suffered during Game 4 of the 2021 second round against the Utah Jazz.

When Clippers beat reporter Tomer Azarly asked Leonard whether he felt any unusual feelings of excitement leading up to his preseason return against the Portland Trail Blazers, Leonard laughingly recalled an earlier interaction with the Robin to his Batman, PG13.

“Nah, it was funny 'cause PG asked me if I had the bubbles before the game, like my stomach. I'm like, ‘nah,'” Leonard, with a huge smile plastered on his face, told reporters. “There might be a little wing in there floating around but like I said, I felt the same way as if I approached any other game today.”

(Skip to 0:14 of the video for the relevant part.)

Did Paul George mean “butterflies” instead of “bubbles”? Perhaps. But what's what makes the interaction so funny, especially with the way the Fun Guy narrated the story.

Kawhi Leonard played 16 minutes in his preseason return, a 102-97 Clippers victory in Seattle, where he tallied 11 points on 3-8 shooting. There were moments where it was clear that The Klaw was still battling rust issues, but overall, he looked healthy out there.

It's a testament to the work Leonard has put in, in addition to his stone-cold killer mindset, that it wasn't obvious at all that he missed almost 16 months of action.

“I felt like I was mentally prepared. I felt like the training staff, the coaches, the doctors, they all did a great job of getting me to this point. And yeah, it's not over yet. It's still gonna be process for me to get better. So I'm just enjoying it,” Leonard added.

Kawhi Leonard's return will draw most of the headlines, but Paul George also played well, dropping 12 points and 7 boards in 16 minutes of action. Clippers fans will be hoping that the two franchise cornerstones can stay healthy this year, so they could finish the job many thought they were capable of back in the 2021 postseason before Leonard's injury derailed all hopes of a Clippers title run.