Kawhi Leonard Gives Rare Look Into His Offseason — and Reveals the Sport His Daughter Is ‘Really Into’ (Exclusive)

Kawhi Leonard has been booked and busy this NBA offseason.

The 34-year-old NBA star traveled to Milan and Paris for Fashion Week — his first time in Paris, he tells PEOPLE — where he not-so-quietly debuted his new sneaker design in three colors while sitting front-row at shows for Louis Vuitton, Armani and Amiri.

“There’s no set-in-stone release date, but I guess it just caught some people’s eyes walking around in fashion week and they’ve just been asking questions,” Leonard tells PEOPLE of the sneak peek at his new designs.

Overall, spending a chunk of his offseason in Europe was “a cool experience” and allowed the NBA star some well-deserved downtime. “I’m into the venues, and seeing the production of each company, and how they build out their shows is pretty unique,” he says.

“It was my first time being in Paris, and just seeing how the architecture is, the different cuisines they have, it was nice,” he says.

The two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP, who largely stays out of the public eye outside of NBA obligations and only launched a personal Instagram account in recent years, says he did not eat any escargot, though. “I stuck with the basics,” he jokes.

A New Balance athlete since 2018, Leonard says inspiration for one of his upcoming designs comes from a 2022 trip to the US Open with his daughter, Kaliyah, 9. “My daughter’s really into tennis, so when I went to the US Open in 2022, and I think Coco won it, I just built this sneaker based off of being there with my daughter. It’s like the tennis-ball material,” he says.

Leonard adds, “But some of the inspiration for the shoes that I was wearing in Milan and Paris were the tennis ones. Obviously there was something brewing up with me and doing a collaboration with Coco.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

He also gets “big inspiration” from the skateboarding culture in his Southern California hometown. “Just giving a nod back to the street culture and skateboarding,” Leonard explains. “They have their own style and tastes. They don’t have no uniform set up. They could just put any pieces together they want.”

Known for being a man of few words, Leonard says “for sure” when asked if he feels like he can express himself through personal style. “People could get a sense of your background or your taste just by what you’re wearing that day. A lot of people try to match their style with their emotions that day, too. Just being yourself.”

Leonard has one more trip planned before his offseason comes to a close. Next month, he’ll travel to Rwanda as a special guest at the Giants of Africa Festival where he’ll mentor young campers, run a basketball clinic for local youth at Club Rafiki and help the organization unveil its brand new Giants of Africa court at St. Ignatius School.