OAKLAND -- As the Warriors prepare for a first-round playoff series against the Spurs, there is at least one concern they don’t to share with some of their fans.
The Warriors are not planning for the return of San Antonio star Kawhi Leonard.
“We do not expect him to play,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Saturday after practice.
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“If he does, we’ll be completely caught off guard,” he added jokingly.
Leonard is San Antonio’s best player and considered among the top 10 in the NBA. The 6-7 forward is a dangerous scorer but may be the league’s best one-on-one defender. He played only nine games this season, though, and none since Jan. 13.
Yet the stories behind Leonard’s absence due to a quadriceps injury are so cloaked in mystery that the Spurs have issued no timetable for his return or officially ruled him out.
“I’m operating in the sense that it doesn’t matter,” Draymond Green said. “Whoever they put on the floor, that’s the team that’s going to compete no matter what.”
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“That’s on them. I’ve got to be ready to play no matter who is out there on the floor. So my approach is the same.”
In the San Antonio game notes released Thursday, there are no names in the space reserved for those on the injured/inactive list.
