Minnesota Timberwolves: San Antonio Spurs will be without Kawhi Leonard in season opener
The Minnesota Timberwolves open up their regular season slate with a match with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and the game got a whole lot easier for Minnesota.
The NBA regular season is just around the corner. It’s the magical time of the year where all four of the major sports in the country are playing and it is starting off kind of magically for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the saddest way possible. It looks like Kawhi Leonard will be missing the season opener for the San Antonio Spurs in their match with the Wolves.
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express has reported that Spurs coach Greg Popovich said that Leonard will be out for the season lid-lifter on Wednesday evening in Texas. Leonard hasn’t played or practiced this preseason while recovering from a quad injury.
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Last season, Leonard cemented his place as one of the best players in the NBA as he finished third in the MVP voting in a season that saw a lot of great campaigns from a lot of superstar players. Last season, Leonard averaged 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
The absence of Leonard will greatly help the new look Timberwolves in their quest for their first victory of the season. With Leonard gone, that allows Jimmy Butler to, likely, defend Danny Green which will let the defensively challenged Andrew Wiggins to guard someone further down the San Antonio depth chart.
The Spurs will still not be an easy team to beat even without Leonard. Along with Green, the Spurs have LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol in the starting lineup as well. That’s a lot of All-Star power.
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Karl-Anthony Towns and company will try to defeat the Leonard-less Spurs on Wednesday in the season opener for both squads. The game on Wednesday is scheduled for an 8:30 Central tip and can be seen on ESPN across the nation.