Things have once again ramped up around the San Antonio Spurs regarding All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard' s availability for the rest of this season. This has become a more prevalent issue after he had decided to get his injury examined further in New York over the weekend for the second time this season.
It has created a cloud of uncertainty if he will be able to take the floor in any of the final few regular season games or the playoffs if the Spurs secure a spot. With that in mind, Michael C. Wright of ESPN is reporting that Leonard has already been declared out for Tuesday's tilt against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Official update: Kawhi Leonard (return from injury management) is out for tomorrow’s Spurs-Clippers game.
— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) April 2, 2018
It will mark the first of back-to-back set at Staples Center with the second game on Wednesday night being against the Los Angeles Lakers. He has now missed the last 33 straight due to concerns over the quadriceps injury that has limited him to just nine appearances this season.
Article Continues BelowThis shouldn't come as much of a surprise at this point given that he has yet to take the floor since Jan. 13 against the Denver Nuggets. During this absence, things have only become further complicated between Leonard and the Spurs with there seemingly being no timetable for his return this season.
It has also placed some level of uncertainty surrounding his long-term future with the franchise as he's in line to possibly garner a super-max contract this upcoming offseason. However, the fact that both sides are not seeing eye-to-eye at this moment could mark that both sides could potentially entertain a possible trade over the offseason if things don't improve.
This has reached a point where things look to be moving toward a type of situation that the Spurs have been able to avoid under head coach Gregg Popovich throughout his tenure. Unless things were to drastically change over the next few days, Leonard looks to be trending toward being out for the rest of the season.