San Antonio Spurs NBA Roster, Injury News 2018: Kawhi Leonard Likely Out For The Rest Of The Season
It looks like the San Antonio Spurs are prepared to play without Kawhi Leonard for the remainder of the season.
Leonard has only appeared in nine games this season as he continues to deal with right quadriceps tendinopathy, and on Wednesday, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich admitted that he would be surprised if the All-Star forward plays again at some point before the end of the season.
"Well, we only have X number of games left in the season, and he's still not ready to go," Popovich said, via ESPN. "If by some chance he is, it's gonna be pretty late into the season; and it's going to be a pretty tough decision -- how late to bring somebody back," he continued.
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Moments after Popovich spoke with the media, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski would report that Leonard has already been cleared by the Spurs' medical staff before his season debut in December, but he has decided to return to the sidelines because his quad injury has continued to bother him.
"After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he's prepared to play again, sources told ESPN," Wojnarowski said in his report.
Well, Spurs fans have to be a little worried about the tension that has been building between Leonard and the team in recent months because he can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019 if he declines his player option for the 2019-20 season.
Leonard is currently averaging 16.2 points, 2.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and a block in under 24 minutes per game this season, and he is shooting 46.8 percent from the field, 31.4 from three-point range, and 81.6 percent from the free-throw stripe.
The two-time National Basketball Association (NBA) Defensive Player of the Year has been on the shelf since Jan. 13.
