The 2017-18 season for Spurs’ superstar forward Kawhi Leonard has not gone according to plan. Leonard sat out most of the first two months of the season as he worked his way back from a hip injury, and when he made his return the Spurs were quick to keep his workload down.
Leonard has played eight games for San Antonio and appeared to be coming into form over the past four games, averaging just over 21 points per game in those four contests. However, late in the Spurs’ win over the Suns in Phoenix on Friday, Leonard suffered a shoulder injury. On Sunday night, Gregg Popovich confirmed that he suffered a partial tear in his left shoulder, but did note that it might not keep him out all that long.
Pop said Leonard suffered a partial tear in his left shoulder Friday night against Phoenix: "It’s too bad. He was starting to get back into form a little bit after playing a couple of games." #Spurs
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) January 8, 2018
Pop didn't rule out Leonard playing at some point during this three-game West Coast trip, which continues tomorrow night in Sacramento and ends Thursday night against the Lakers in L.A.: "I don’t know. It depends on how his shoulder goes." #Spurs
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) January 8, 2018
Hopefully Leonard can get back on the court sooner rather than later and his shoulder issue won’t linger too much the rest of this season. It’s been a remarkable start to the season by the Spurs considering they’ve been without their star, but no one would expect this team to be a legitimate challenger to the Warriors or Rockets in the West without Leonard in the lineup at 100 percent. We’ll see how the Spurs handle Leonard, but knowing the way things work in San Antonio, you can expect them to remain cautious with their star moving forward whenever he returns.
Check out our DIME podcast this week with Jim Miller, author of ESPN the book. Subscribe on iTunes.
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