It’s been a very strange season in San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard and the rest of the organization. He’s appeared in just nine games total and hasn’t suited up for the Spurs since Jan. 19 due to a lingering quad injury that has been much more complicated than anyone involved could’ve anticipated.
Gregg Popovich, in a surprisingly candid moment, told reporters that he’d be “surprised” if Leonard returned to action at all this season last week. That development was rendered even stranger when a new report revealed that Leonard had, in fact, been medically-cleared to return to action but was opting not to do so yet.
It’s led to all sorts of speculation about a deteriorating relationship between the two sides. The Spurs and their fans, however, got some good news on Monday when it was announced that Leonard was back with the team and working toward a return in the very near future.
Via Michael C. Wright and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Leonard has returned to San Antonio from New York, where he spent three weeks seeking further consultation on a right quad injury that has sidelined him for most of the season, league sources said.
Leonard isn’t expected to immediately start engaging in full 5-on-5 practices with his teammates, but the goal is to advance toward that level of engagement in the near future, league sources said.
Though there’s no set time table in place, the hopeful March return would ostensibly give Leonard and the Spurs a chance to readjust to one another in anticipation of a postseason run.
The Spurs are currently third in the conference, though it would have been hard to see a scenario where they would be able to challenge other Western Conference heavyweights like the Warriors, Rockets, or Thunder without their star two-way player. There are still plenty of questions about whether they’ll be able put all the pieces together in time to make a legitimate championship run, but getting Leonard back is a massive boost.
