Last anyone heard about All-Star and all-world forward Kawhi Leonard, it was coach Gregg Popovich saying Leonard getting through injury rehab work was more ‘difficult’ than expected. The gloom and doom that may have caused for some Spurs fans, but it seems there are perhaps some brighter days ahead for Leonard.
Leonard is working his way back from right quadriceps tendinopathy, an injury that has bothered him since last season. He has yet to suit up for the Spurs in 2017-18, and the team isn’t offering a timetable for his return. Popovich, however, remains confident the Spurs’ careful approach with Leonard will pay off, writes Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News:
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich offered an update of sorts on the status of injured All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard.
Asked if there is “light at the end of the tunnel” for the Spurs’ linchpin player, Popovich said after shootaround Tuesday morning, “Oh, sure. He’s gonna be back sooner rather than later.”
The coach then paused before adding, “Whatever nebulous (stuff that was). As soon as I said it, I thought, ‘What the hell does that mean?’ ”
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“A team just has to play in a sense like he doesn’t exist,” Popovich said. “Nobody cares if you lost a good player, right? Everybody wants to whip you. So it doesn’t do much good to do the poor me thing or to keep wondering when he is going to be back or what are we going to do. We have to play now, and other people have to take up those minutes and we have to figure out who to go to when in a different way, and you just move on.”
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