Kawhi Leonard talks to Jimmy Kimmel about big hands, Secret Santas, and Billy Crystal’s career

With less than a week before the 2020-21 NBA season tips off, Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard appeared on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday night. OK, he was probably there to promote his new New Balance Christmas shoes.

Those hoping that the conversation might touch on the Clippers’ surprising playoff loss (blowing a 3-1 series lead) to the Denver Nuggets or new coach Tyronn Lue will likely be disappointed. But Kimmel did ask some questions no other sports reporter would.

For instance, what are some of the problems with having big hands? Most of us probably think it’d be great to palm a basketball or block a Jamal Murray shot with just one finger. But what about social situations or quiet moments in which you might know what to do with your hands?

“I didn’t know this until I saw my friends or someone else doing an activity and I can’t do that,” Leonard said. “Like putting my hands in my own pockets. Sometimes, they’re just way too small.”

Check out the interview:

Kimmel and Leonard were eventually joined by Clippers fan Billy Crystal and the comedian quizzed the NBA star about his movie career. Kawhi didn’t do so well with that.

To be fair, many of Crystal’s most popular movies are more than 20 years old. When Harry Met Sally was in theaters 31 years ago! But he could’ve known that Crystal’s Monsters, Inc. character was named Mike Wazowski.

What are the chances that Leonard watched Crystal portray NBA referee Mickey Gordon in Forget Paris? Kawhi was only four years old when that movie was released in 1995. But since so many NBA stars of that era — Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. — were in the movie, maybe it has some cult status among basketball players. Or maybe not.

As you might guess, Kimmel and Crystal had to work a bit harder to get entertaining answers from the notoriously reserved Leonard.

Yet some good stuff was mentioned during the conversation, such as dispelling the story about bringing a bag of apples to a team dinner and eating them with a knife and fork while he was with the San Antonio Spurs. No, there was no “Apple Time.” But maybe Leonard and Crystal can share some apples while watching When Harry Met Sally or City Slickers.