LOS ANGELES — Luke Kennard made his return to Los Angeles to face Tyronn Lue and the Clippers for the first time since he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies at the NBA's trade deadline.

Kennard was sent to Memphis as part of a three-team trade that sent Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers and John Wall and Danny Green to the Houston Rockets.

In his return, Kennard received a tribute video from the Clippers as well as a nice ovation from fans at Crypto dot com Arena.

Kennard finished the game shooting 5-of-7 from the field, including a perfect 5-of-5 from three. Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue laughed when Kennard's name was brought up during his post-game press conference.

“Just at the end,” Lue said of his interactions with Luke Kennard. “Just [gave him] a big hug because I miss him. That’s one of my favorite guys, and so just gave him a big hug, told him I missed him, and he was good to see me as well.

“But you knew he was going to come in and have a good game, especially if you leave him open with the way he was, and one time not getting back in transition because we’re complaining to the refs, gave him a three. Not getting matched up twice in transition, giving up a three, and so we gotta be better with those things. We talk about it every single day, but now we gotta start actually executing it.”

Luke Kennard helped his Grizzlies build a 16-point lead thanks to a monstrous 51-point barrage in the third quarter. It was the fourth quarter that did Memphis in, as the Clippers outscored them 38-17 to win by a score of 135-129.

“It's good to be back, seeing everybody,” Luke Kennard told ClutchPoints with a smile. “I wish we could've came out with a win. But overall, it was a good experience to see everybody.

“I'm rooting for them. I got a lot of friends there, built great relationships. Hopefully if we see them in the playoffs, it would be great to take them out.”

Luke Kennard played two-and-a-half seasons for the Clippers before moving out to Memphis. In his tenure with LA , Kennard averaged 9.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.

The Clippers and Grizzlies will face off two more times later this month on March 29th and March 31st. It's unclear whether the Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant will play or not after stepping away from the team following his IG Live incident where Ja flashed a gun.