LOS ANGELES — Paul George was out, Brandon Boston Jr. was on, and Nicolas Batum was in the lineup for the first time in almost three weeks.

The 32-year-old forward had been sidelined with a bout with COVID-19, an experience he detailed Wednesday night after the Clippers’ 114-11 victory over the Boston Celtics.

“Interesting day,” surmised Batum, with a nod to his stat line: 0 for 1, one rebound, assist, steal, block, turnover. And another one: “This is the first time I did media with zero points.”

In fact, it has been an altogether atypical few weeks for the versatile Frenchman, who missed nine games after he was a late scratch ahead of the Clippers’ matinee matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 21.

“I didn’t feel good that game, that Sunday against the Mavs,” Batum recalled Wednesday in his first media appearance since he spoke after the Clippers’ loss Nov. 19 in New Orleans.

“Didn’t feel pretty well the night before. I didn’t think about COVID. When I came in, I was still sick, did a quick test just to be sure and I test positive and I find out about 45 minutes before the game. And then I did another one and then I went back to the practice facility to get another test and I got three positives in one day. And the next day was three positives.”

“And then the next four, five days, I was pretty sick. I was stuck in my room, didn’t move for like 10-12 days. And then I got cleared. After I got two negative tests, I got cleared to leave my house.

“Friday, when we played the Lakers, I came into the practice facility in the morning, that was the first time I really left my house that day. Then I just had two 35-minute workouts on Saturday and Sunday, practice in the G-League on Monday and that’s it.”

Coach Tyronn Lue said before the season started that all of the Clippers were vaccinated. Moreover, Batum served as a spokesman when the team partnered with Cedars Sinai Medical Center for a public service announcement video promoting vaccines in May.

Having to watch the Clippers play – and struggle – without him was tough, he said.

They went 4-5 in his absence, slipping offensively as they averaged 104.1 points per game in his absence – 2.5 fewer than they had with him on the floor. And without Batum’s calming on-court presence, the Clippers’ turnovers ticked up, from 14.4 per game to 15.9.

“No, we’ve been struggling,” said Batum, who offered a typically gracious caveat. “We have a couple games where we didn’t score a lot and I was playing too. The last game I played, we scored 27 points in the second half in New Orleans – that was brutal.”

Still, he said, “that’s interesting, to be at home on your couch for like nine games. You see the game in different ways. It’s cool to be back with the guys because a couple games, like Sacramento and New Orleans, I was kinda like ‘OK, when I come back, I know what I have to do.’”

Last season, Batum logged a team-high 1,835 regular-season minutes – and then 555 more in the Clippers’ playoff run to the Western Conference finals before playing 178 additional minutes of Olympic basketball as he helped lead France to the gold-medal game in Tokyo.

Now, including Wednesday’s 15-minute outing, he has started all but one of his 15 games this season and is averaging 26.7 minutes per game and 9.1 points on 51.5% shooting, including 43.2% from 3-point range.

Although he started in place of George – out with a bruised right elbow – on Wednesday, Batum said with Marcus Morris Sr. in the lineup again after taking time to strengthen his ailing knee, he expects to be used in reserve going forward.

“We got Mook back now, so my role’s gonna be different than the first 20 games, ’cause I gotta come off the bench now, so my defense gonna be different, my offense gonna be different, so I’m gonna have to adjust,” said Batum, who rolled his ankle after blocking a Dennis Schröder drive during Wednesday’s game, but he was able to return after getting it re-wrapped and expects it won’t affect his status ahead of Saturday’s game against the Orlando Magic.

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“I know from now on, my role’s gonna change coming off the bench,” Batum added. “But I’m cool with that, I don’t care. Just gonna be different for me, but I know what I have to do, especially with the second unit. It won’t be the same players around me, but I’m cool with that.

“You know me, I’m gonna come in and play my role, play defense one through five, and guard the big man one day and the point guard the next day. Go out there and do my job.”

And that makes the Clippers feel better, too.

“We don’t expect him to come back and set the world on fire,” Lue said before tipoff Wednesday. “But just having him on the floor … another IQ guy, a guy who can defend multiple positions, make a shot, play the right way, it’s just good to have him back.”

Nico Batum — “cool with” just about everything — on missing time and how he expects to fit in going forward: pic.twitter.com/K4D703oSdw

— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) December 9, 2021