In the NBA, like any other professional sport, injuries come with the territory of competition with varying degrees of injuries. It has become the center of attention for the San Antonio Spurs with Kawhi Leonard unable to play in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors due to a sprained left ankle.
It's a situation that head coach Gregg Popovich has taken full control of with the decision-making coming up the final decision. Prior to the contest, Kevin Durant had stated that he felt that it was an almost guaranteed certainty that Leonard would be playing, but Popovich and the Spurs decided against it for precautionary reasons.
With that in mind, Danny Green gave his take on the situation while taking a shot at other teams in the league.
Danny Green says other teams would have guys play w/ "broken bones, missing fingers," but #Spurs "care about guys' bodies and careers."
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) May 20, 2017
There is no clarity as to the extent of the injury but rather that Popovich and the Spurs believe it's still injured enough that it would be too risky to play. Remember, he had reinjured twice in Game 1 after initially suffering it in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets. He has now missed three of the last four playoff games because of the injury.
With the Warriors having full control of the series holding a 3-0 lead, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to see Popovich side with safety for his player's long-term healthy over putting him out there with a nagging injury in a playoff series where his team is completely outmatched.
Ultimately, Popovich has the health down the road in mind and not many teams would take the route especially in the playoffs, and that is something that Green fully appreciates.
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