Last week, there was plenty of talk about San Antonio Spurs star forward Kawhi Leonard returning as early as this Thursday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. According to an article written today by Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich isn't going to make any assumptions on when Leonard will be cleared to return.
“Asked if Leonard could play in the playoffs without having returned during the regular season, Pop said, ‘I don’t speculate on any of that stuff.' He also said that as of this point, Kawhi has not been cleared by his own medical people to return,” Orsborn said on Saturday.
Leonard has missed all but nine games this 2017-18 season with a right quadriceps injury with recurring tendinopathy, leaving many to ponder whether the star forward will be back in a Spurs uniform this season at all.
One of his Spurs teammates who is urging people to be patient is none other than veteran center Pau Gasol, who recently came to the defense of Leonard.
“We have all been patient and understanding. It must be hard for a guy that is as talented as Kawhi is to have a season like this and to be in the position he is in. All we can do is support him and encourage him and hope that at some point he comes back to help us,” Gasol said.
In those nine games this season, Leonard averaged 16.2 points per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the field, 4.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game in just 23.3 minutes of action per contest.
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