Kawhi Leonard Illness: Updates on Spurs Star's Eye and Return

San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard is quickly developing into one of the NBA's most complete players. Unfortunately, the Spurs star was dealing with an eye infection that sidelined him for the start of the regular season. Leonard is slated to return on Friday night.

Latest Updates from Thursday, Oct. 30

Marc Stein of ESPN reported on Kawhi Leonard's return to the lineup: 

Original Article from Sunday, Oct. 19

According to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News, Leonard's eye infection could cause him to miss the Spurs' regular-season opener against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 28.

"It is going back and forth between the two [eyes]," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said Saturday. "It's crazy. Kawhi is still out for 10 more days."

The San Diego State product has all the makings of an All-Star-caliber player. In addition to putting up the best statistical output of his career in 2013-14, Leonard is also the reigning NBA Finals MVP.

As seen in this graphic courtesy of NBA.com, the 23-year-old star was nothing short of stellar in the Spurs' triumph over the Miami Heat:

Leonard has been an excellent perimeter defender ever since entering the league in 2011. During the 2014 Finals, he held his own against LeBron James defensively, but perhaps the most impressive part of his performance was his offensive eruption.

The 6'7", 230-pound wingman set career highs in almost every major statistical category during the 2013-14 regular season, and he parlayed that into a great deal of playoff success as well.

Even with that type of progress, Leonard wasn't satisfied entering the 2014-15 campaign. As evidenced by this Vine courtesy of the NBA's official Twitter account, he worked hard to add even more diversity to his offensive attack:

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker will be considered the Spurs' biggest stars until they retire, due to the incredible amount of success they have experienced over the years. In reality, though, Leonard may be on the verge of becoming San Antonio's most important player if he hasn't already.

He's eligible for a contract extension between now and Oct. 31, which many feel is a foregone conclusion. Nate Duncan of BasketballInsiders.com weighed in earlier this week on how the Spurs should approach extension negotiations with their young swingman:

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Despite the fact that Leonard is widely presumed to be worth the max on the open market, the Spurs have a number of reasons not to offer it at this point. Leonard is so good other teams may be loathe to offer him the max in the summer of 2015, tying up their cap space for three critical days knowing the Spurs will undoubtedly match. A matched contract would have lower 4.5 percent annual raises, a potential advantage to San Antonio in the later years of the deal as the cap rises. And if Leonard is not extended an offer sheet by another team, a la Eric Bledsoe this year, that could provide additional leverage for the Spurs to obtain a deal below the max next summer.

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Compared to 2012-13, Leonard's minutes actually went down during the regular season last year, as he played just 29.1 minutes per game. The third-year swingman's production went up despite that, but he wasn't shy about petitioning Popovich for an increase in playing time prior to the current campaign, according to Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News:

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In the Finals I'm playing 35 minutes a game, so I'm on the floor more and able to score the ball more and get more rebounds. So I'm going to have to get consistent minutes to play at a consistent level like that. I've been trying to (be a dominant player) since I've been here. ... It's just in order to get me more involved in the offense, that's what I go by. Like I said, if I'm going to get seven more minutes on the floor, that's going to be important. We'll see what happens. I mean, my role was supposed to expand last year and we played pretty much the same basketball. So we'll see what Coach Pop has.

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Popovich is well known for playing it safe with his star players, as he always has an eye toward the postseason. Given Leonard's history of injuries—he has yet to make it through a full season, having missed 16 games last year with a broken hand—there's no reason to expect Pop to push his star swingman to return before he's 100 percent healthy.

As great of a player as Leonard is, the Spurs always find a way to persevere due to their commitment to team basketball. Even in the stacked Western Conference, San Antonio still has enough talent to thrive, even if Leonard were ever forced to miss significant time during the season.

There is no question that the Spurs are a better team with Leonard in the fold, though, which means everyone involved with the organization will eagerly anticipate his return.

Prior Updates

Updates from Monday, Oct. 27

ESPN's Marc Stein confirms Kawhi Leonard's status for Game 1 of the regular season against the Dallas Mavericks:

Updates from Tuesday, Oct. 28

Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News has the latest update on Kawhi Leonard and when he can beginning practicing with the team:

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