The San Antonio Spurs broke some rather disturbing news on Wednesday, indicating that star forward Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to a continuation of the quad injury that cost him the first two months of the season.
Kawhi Leonard Update: pic.twitter.com/2jb5svTAR2
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 17, 2018
Leonard suffered said injury in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals last season. After missing the team’s first 26 games this season, Leonard returned to the fold back in mid December.
But it’s readily apparent that the star forward is not ready to continue playing. In fact, he’s now going back to the rehab process.
This is most definitely not good news for a Spurs team that is 29-16 on the season and is currently the third seed out west.
If Leonard’s quad injury continues to impact his ability to play this season, the Spurs stand no real chance of competing with Golden State for the conference title.
Though, the team is smart to play it cautious here. San Antonio finds itself seven games behind the Warriors for the No. 1 seed. Attempting to chase that ghost while risking further injury to Leonard makes absolutely no sense.
In nine games this season, Leonard is averaging 16.2 points and shooting at a 47 percent clip from the field. His minutes have been limited to just north of 23 per game. Obviously, he was nowhere near his normal self prior to being shut down by the Spurs on Wednesday.