Despite the fact that the San Antonio Spurs have played a vast majority of their 2017-18 NBA season without Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard, Gregg Popovich has his team playing some seriously impressive basketball in a loaded-but-underperforming Western Conference. The Spurs are currently 14-7, good for the 3rd best record in the west, and most importantly, it looks like they are finally going to squash that injury bug.
Tony Parker made his return to the Spurs last week after missing the beginning of the season with the same quadriceps injury he suffered during the playoffs last year. Parker is averaging eight points, and 4.5 assists on 50 percent shooting in just 16 minutes per game for the Spurs since his return, and while San Antonio is clearly taking the slow approach with regards to Parker’s minutes, he’s passing the eye test. The 35-year old veteran point guard looks good.
For reasons that have Popovich himself confused, Leonard’s return from a less-severe quadriceps injury hasn’t been as smooth. The Spurs have been pretty vague about Leonard’s injury since it was announced in training camp, but despite the secrecy and frustration, it appears as though Leonard is going to be back on the court for the Spurs much sooner than expected.
According to MySanAntonio.com’s Jeff McDonald, Leonard practiced with the team for the first time on Friday morning during shootaround prior to Friday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. The good news didn’t stop there, as Popovich revealed just how close Leonard is to an on-court return.
“Those are the last steps,” Popovich said. “That’s what Tony did before he came back.”
Popovich is referring to being a full participant in practice, which is exactly what Leonard was on Friday. Popovich went on to say that while Leonard is close, make no mistake, he’s going to be extra careful here.
“When he says, ‘I feel I can go,’ then he’s got to convince me,” Popovich said. “Because I’m going to err on the conservative side. We’ll see. He’s too valuable to bring back early.”
Popovich is taking the right approach. The Spurs have already established that they can survive without Leonard for the time being. What they can’t do is have a successful playoff run if Leonard isn’t 100%, so anything that could potentially jeopardize that isn’t worth doing.
