The San Antonio Spurs have a 24-11 record, which is third in the tough Western Conference. Here is why they have put the rest of the NBA on notice.
As an opposing team, what would be more daunting than facing a 24-11 San Antonio Spurs team? That would be facing a 24-11 team that has had one of the most injury-plagued starts to a season, including missing two of their best players for large periods of the season.
The Spurs started off the season without starting power guard Tony Parker. This was not the end of the world, as Parker is 35 and is starting to decline. However, they also started the season without their franchise player Kawhi Leonard, who was out for the first two months.
Now Leonard is back, having played five of the last seven games. Unfortunately, three of those games have been losses, but Leonard has still been good in limited time.
In those five games he has averaged 19.0 minutes per game. This is well down on his career average of 30.4 minutes per game. However, in the last game, Leonard played 26 minutes and scored 21 points, which was a season high.
As the Spurs bring Leonard back in to the swing of the NBA season, they are doing so in a manner that does not alienate LaMarcus Aldridge or Pau Gasol. Both of these players are still getting their shots, which was not the case last year for Aldridge.