Kawhi Leonard’s season is reportedly over, for real this time
The Spurs All-Star isn’t walking through that door.
Kawhi Leonard is not walking through that door.
A day after the Spurs got waxed, 113-92, in their Game 1 loss to the Warriors, and hours after San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters they’d have to ask Leonard if he would be returning for the playoffs, The Vertical’s Shams Charania reported Leonard will miss the remainder of the postseason. He will forgo the playoffs and remain in New York with his own doctors to focus on recovering from a right quadriceps injury that has robbed him of virtually the entire 2017-18 season. Leonard’s rehab, according to Charania, has been “in collaboration and with the approval of the Spurs’ medical staff, league sources said.”
Leonard missed the first 27 games of the season, then returned for nine games before sitting the remainder of the regular season. The Spurs medical staff has cleared him to play, but the former Finals MVP and perennial All-Star wing does not feel his quad is ready.
When healthy, Leonard is one of the most dominant two-way players in the league. Last season, he averaged 25.5 points on 48 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent from three while doubling as a finalist for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
Without Leonard, the Spurs have endured one of their worst seasons in the Gregg Popovich era. They were in legitimate danger of falling out of the Western Conference playoff race. San Antonio’s 47 wins were its fewest in an entire season in 21 years.

