Gregg Popovich: Kawhi Leonard will be back ‘sooner rather than later’

Updates on Kawhi Leonard’s health have been few and far between lately, but Gregg Popovich is at least hinting that he isn’t dealing with a long-term issue.

Popovich said Tuesday that Leonard, who has missed the entire season so far with a quad injury, will be back “sooner rather than later.” He offered one of his famous Pop quips, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News.

Pop was asked if there was "any light at the end of the tunnel" for Leonard, and he replied, "Oh, sure. He's gonna be back sooner rather than later….Whatever nebulous…As soon as I said that, I thought, 'What the hell does that mean?" #Spurs

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) November 14, 2017

At 8-5 on the season, the Spurs have managed to tread water in Leonard’s indefinite absence. But there’s hardly a more important and impactful end-to-end player in the league, and the team has little chance of truly competing in the West without him. Still, this is at least an encouraging update after what Popovich recently said about Leonard’s difficult rehab process.