The San Antonio Spurs have seemingly suffered a huge loss with small forward Kawhi Leonard reportedly not expected to return for the 2017-18 NBA season. As a result, head coach Gregg Popovich is fixated on convincing his players to get used to life without Leonard.

The Spurs have played well despite the absence of their star forward. However, Popovich said they will need to play without the expectation of Leonard coming back this season, according to ESPN's Michael C. Wright:

“We've pretty much been that way, but this is the last 23 games of the season,” Popovich. “It doesn't do any good to be wishing and hoping that somebody's going to be added, and save the day, and all that silly stuff.

“These guys have got to go play for themselves and do what they do.”

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San Antonio was unable to get off on the right foot coming out of the All-Star break following their 122-119 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday. Regardless, they have become accustomed to the lack of involvement from Leonard after navigating their way to a 35-25 record, good for third place in the juggernaut Western Conference.

However, it is clear that Popovich still feels the team is holding out some hope that the former two-time Defensive Player of the Year will come back at some point this year. Needless to say, the sooner they come to grips with Leonard's potential absence, the better it will serve them, in the long run, should they hope to salvage what many feel has become a lost season.