Kawhi Leonard Out Indefinitely As Struggles With Quad Injury Continue

Leonard has played in just eight games this season as he's dealt with right quadriceps tendinopathy.

Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to right quadriceps tendinopathy, the team announced on Wednesday. 

Kawhi Leonard Update: pic.twitter.com/2jb5svTAR2

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 17, 2018

Leonard has been dealing with the injury all season and has appeared in just eight games this season, averaging 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He did not make his season debut until Dec. 12 and he has yet to play in more than two consecutive games. 

"Kawhi has made significant progress and continues to move forward in his rehabilitation," Spurs general manager RC Buford said in a statement. "This is the best approach for the next steps in his return to play."

Leonard, 26, played 28 minutes in San Antoinio's 112-80 victory over the Nuggets on Saturday and scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but he was held out of Monday's 102-99 loss to the Hawks.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Leonard didn't re-injure the quad in Sunday's game, but that he felt pain after the contest that didn't subside. 

"He was having pain, not right after the game, but the next day at noon or that kind of thing," Popovich said, per the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald. "The pain wasn't dissipating. It wasn't going in the right direction. It was going the other way."

The 2014 Finals MVP was named First-Team All-NBA in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He finished third in MVP voting last season, behind only Russell Westbrook and James Harden, by averaging 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He is a two-time winner (2015 and 2016) of the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.

The Spurs have fared quite well in Leonard's absence, as San Antonio is 29-16 and sits in third place in the West.