Popovich: Spurs waiting to hear from Leonard's 'group'

3 April 2018: The San Antonio Spurs are awaiting word from Kawhi Leonard's "group" to find out when or if the injured forward might rejoin the team, according to coach Gregg Popovich.

Leonard, whose season has been limited to nine games because of right quadriceps tendinopathy, is in New York, training and dealing with his own medical experts. The Spurs' medical staff have long since cleared Leonard to get back into action, but the former NBA Finals MVP is at odds with the club over his health.

"I don't know when he and his group are going to feel like they are ready to go," Popovich said Sunday. "If I knew, he'd be here. When he and his group feel he's ready, then he'll be ready."

The Spurs defeated the league-leading Houston Rockets 100-83 on Sunday, allowing San Antonio to remain a half-game ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder for fourth place in the Western Conference.

San Antonio, which has five games remaining, holds a three-game lead on the ninth-place Denver Nuggets in its bid to extend the NBA's longest active playoff streak to 21 years. The record is 22 years, held by the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers from 1950-71.

Whether Leonard will return to help the Spurs make the playoffs, or if he will get back in the postseason, remains uncertain.

"He's trying to get well," Popovich said. "Of course that's the purpose (of his time in New York), to get well, that's what he's doing. That's what rehab is. He's not up there going to Broadway shows."

Leonard, 26, is averaging 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds this season. The two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year missed the season's first 27 games, then played in nine of 17 contests, but he last played Jan. 13.

In mid-March, Spurs teammates held a meeting with Leonard and implored him to get back on the court, but he is still sidelined.