{"id":11614,"date":"2017-12-11T15:26:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T20:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=11614"},"modified":"2017-12-12T09:21:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T14:21:30","slug":"kawhi-leonards-return-imminent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/12\/11\/kawhi-leonards-return-imminent\/","title":{"rendered":"League on Notice: Kawhi Leonard\u2019s Return Imminent"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs<\/a> are 19-8, sitting at third place in the West. They\u2019re one of the better teams in the league, as usual. Oh, and Kawhi Leonard<\/a><\/strong> hasn\u2019t played a single minute all season. Kawhi Leonard’s return should bolster an already strong Spurs team.<\/p>\n

League on Notice: Kawhi Leonard\u2019s Return Imminent<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The two time all star, two time defensive player of the year, NBA Finals MVP (there\u2019s too many accomplishments to mention) is still suffering from a quad injury. But that has not slowed down Gregg Popovich\u2019s<\/strong> Spurs juggernaut down.<\/p>\n

Now, with Leonard set to return Tuesday versus the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, the full power of the Spurs is ready to be unleashed!<\/p>\n

No, seriously, we are almost thirty games in and we don\u2019t know exactly how good the Spurs actually are. If that doesn\u2019t terrify the league, nothing will. The league is used to knowing exactly how good Popovich\u2019s team will be. This year, they\u2019re already good. With Leonard coming back, the potential is sky high.<\/p>\n

LaMarcus Aldridge<\/a><\/strong> is leading the team in points and rebounds per game. The pickup of Rudy Gay<\/a><\/strong> this offseason is also paying off immensely. He\u2019s averaging over 11 points per and has started the last four games. Tony Parker<\/a> is also back from his injury. While Patty Mills<\/a><\/strong> has been his regular self, Dejounte Murray<\/a><\/strong> has continued to improve.<\/p>\n

Manu Ginobili<\/strong><\/a> comes in where it counts. He\u2019s probably the most important bench player for the Spurs as well.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not forget to mention Kyle Anderson<\/a>\u2019s<\/strong> continued growth, something Popovich\u2019s is perfect at. Throw in Danny Green<\/a><\/strong> for good measure and it\u2019s no surprise that the Spurs are successful being stacked with an embarrassment of riches. They should be a great team because of a system of the system and culture of the organization.<\/p>\n

League on notice! The Klaw cometh!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The league is officially on notice. The Klaw is on the way back and the San Antonio Spurs are prime to ride a huge wave of success. If Popovich can keep Zaza Pachulia<\/a><\/strong> away from Leonard, the Spurs should be in great shape for yet another deep playoff run.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo<\/p>\n

CHARLOTTE, UNITED STATES – NOVEMBER 23: Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio Spurs passing the Charlotte Hornets’ defense during the NBA match between San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum arena in Charlotte, NC, USA on November 23, 2016. (Photo by Peter Zay\/Anadolu Agency\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spurs are great, as usual. But now Kawhi Leonard’s return is imminent and the sky is the limit for the Spurs who are poised for another playoff run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2272,"featured_media":10464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[65,204,168,96,55],"class_list":["post-11614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spurs","tag-basketball","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba","tag-san-antonio-spurs"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}