Kawhi Leonard Clear To Play Friday Night

Photo Credit: Mike Ehrmann – Getty Images

After missing the San Antonio Spurs’ season opener, NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard has been cleared to play in the Spurs game this Friday.

Leonard had been dealing with an eye infection, which held him out of the Spurs’ last five preseason games. He was still not ready on the night of the Spurs’ opener against the Dallas Mavericks. Although they did get the win without him, it was a close game that could easily have ended differently.

Even at the tender age of 23, there are going to be a lot of people putting pressure on him this season after his playoff performance. If the Spurs put the young defender to work on the offensive end, he may very well have a break out season. Leonard is one of the league’s most capable wing defenders. To go along with that he is one of the smartest players when it comes to guarding LeBron James.

Leonard is going to be a big part of what the Spurs want to do this season, regardless if he receives an expanded roll on the offensive end. He plays within Gregg Popovich’s offense and doesn’t force bad plays and is going to get a larger workload this season. Hopefully, with this eye infection behind him, he will stay healthy the rest of the season and maybe even make an All-Star appearance.

His first game will come against the Phoenix Suns tomorrow night. Hopefully he will integrate smoothly, even though he has missed minimal time, it does not take much to throw off timing and rhythm.