The San Antonio Spurs have been without star point guard Tony Parker since Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals back in May. Parker went down with one of those horrifying non-contact injuries after landing awkwardly on a fairly routine floater attempt. Almost immediately, Parker was diagnosed with a ruptured left quadriceps tendon, ending his season, and he hasn’t been on the court since.
The #Spurs are awaiting Tony Parker's MRI results, but expectations are he will need season-ending surgery, per @WojVerticalNBA https://t.co/M0lCJuI6th
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) May 4, 2017
It originally appeared as though Parker was going to miss a significant chunk of the 2017-18 season due to the injury, but Spurs teammate Danny Green revealed back in September that Parker was a couple of months ahead of schedule.
While Dejounte Murray and Patty Mills have filled in admirably for Parker, the Spurs could really use more offensive firepower, even if Parker has lost a step over the years. Besides, Kawhi Leonard is dealing with his own quad issues at the moment. They can’t afford to have both Leonard and Parker out for an extended period of time, particularly when you consider how stacked the Western Conference is this season.
The good news is, Parker is finally playing basketball again. According to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, via MySanAntonio.com, he’s still over a month away from returning to an NBA court, but he’s playing at full-speed.
“His rehab is going really well,” Popovich said. “He’s going 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 pretty much full speed. I think he gets to go 5-on-5 in about a week and we’ll see how he looks.”
Parker will turn 36 before the 2017-18 NBA season is over, and when you’re talking about a significant injury for a player of that age, you just never know if they’re ever going to be able to return at full-strength. Thankfully, Parker is not only recovering well, but it sounds like he’s significantly ahead of schedule. Now, if they could just get Leonard back, they can really make their mark on the Western Conference playoff picture.
