Kawhi Leonard Shows Off Deadpan Acting Chops in Ads for Honey

Along with his mad hoop skills, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angles Clippers is renowned for his reserved, deadpan demeanor, an infectious (though infrequently deployed) laugh—and his humoooongous hands.

All three attributes are leveraged to great effect in four new 30-second commercials for Honey, an online couponing service recently purchased by PayPal for $4 billion.

Leonard’s quiet, quirky personality shines throughout. Our rating: All net.

In this first ad, which broke during Wednesday’s Clippers-Celtics coverage on TNT, visual sleight of hand—goofing on the man’s mammoth metacarpi—steals the show:

Those are the hands of a god! (Hey, maybe they used F/X or two laptops? Nah!)

Next, Leonard gets ever so excited about saving money with Honey, and expresses that joy in his own special way:

Dude can barely contain himself, right?

Looking for more of a product demo? Kawhi has you covered there, too. And don’t worry, it won’t be overly complicated.

Fittingly, the reigning NBA Finals MVP gets the last laugh, too:

“Kawhi may seem like an unexpected partner for Honey, but we actually have a lot in common,” the brand says in a blog post. “We both have deep-rooted ties to the city of L.A., and we’re both working to leave a lasting legacy here. Kawhi is thoughtful about the brands he chooses to work with, which is why we’re so proud that he’s chosen to partner with us. We were already big Kawhi fans, and we were thrilled to learn that Kawhi’s a fan of Honey, too.”

CREDITS

Kawhi x Honey

Creative: Honey In-House
Co-Founders: George Ruan and Ryan Hudson
President: Joanne Bradford
SVP of Marketing: Brian Kim
VP of Creative: Chiyong Jones
Senior Creative Director: Aron Fried
Lead Creatives: Vidur Raswant & Elaine Kelch
CD/Copywriter & CD/Art Director: Dave Carlson & Aeryn Dillon (“Oversimplified” & “Sad Kawhi”)
Senior Producer: Matt Sausmer
Project Manager: Jenn Delany

Production: O Positive Films
Director: Kenny Herzog
Director of Photography: Eric Steelberg
Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella
Executive Producer: Marc Grill
Producer: Jason Reda
Behind the Scenes Videographer & Photographer: Samantha Hunter

Editorial: Honey In-House
Editor: Tim Hyten (“Tiny Laptop”)
Editor: Nate Tam (“Oversimplified” “Sad Kawhi” “Excited”)
VFX Supervisor & Artist: Parker McCabe
VFX Artist: Beau McCombs

Color: Company 3
Senior Colorist: Siggy Ferstl
Vice President, Short Form: Ashley McKim
Senior Producer: Matt Moran

Conform
Method Studios

Audio: Eleven Sound
Audio Mixer / Sound Designer: Ben Freer
Executive Producer: Melissa Elston
Producer: Imani Franklin

Music
Butter Music & Sound