Kawhi Leonard on his status: “I feel good”

The Spurs make their best player available to the press to talk for the first time since last season.

The Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard, in as low-key a manner as possible, channeled James Brown with his first words to the press since the season began. Throughout the entire media availability, the San Antonio star spoke in as matter-of-fact a manner as possible. Since our audio was difficult to hear (as well as to post) I’ve decided to provide you with a transcript in a style that Leonard would approve of, with analysis to come at a later date.

Asked how he was feeling, Kawhi said:

I feel good, soon to come — to be able to play on the floor. It’s been a long wait. I’m feeling pretty healthy right now.

When asked how far along he was with his rehab, he said:

What do you mean by how far?

The followup question was: “I mean are you now playing five on five contact?”

Uh yeah, I think they told you guys that I’ve been playing five on five so that’s where I’m at right now.

When asked how the contact play has been, he said:

It’s been good. But just it’s still just gotta go through few more processes and doing that, should be back soon.

When asked whether a game had been targeted for him to return, he said:

No, just whenever. You know how the day or next day recovery feels and just based on how I feel is when I’m gonna be released to play.

When asked how long he thought he would be out, he said:

Didn’t really think about it too much. Just focusing on what I had to accomplish.

When asked if it was a difficult process, he said:

No, not really. Just focused on my injury. Just me not being able to play the game was a little frustrating, but my team has done a great job right now of holding their own. A lot of people stepped up in the process and it’s going to be great in the long run.

When asked about when in the last season the injury occurred, he said:

It wasn’t a point in last season

When asked if it happened during the off-season, he said:

Just wear and tear. Wear and tear.

When asked about how bad the pain was, he said:

Hard to say. I really wasn’t doing anything to push the pain to that level. Just whatever the doctors recommended is what we began to do.

Then the following question was asked, “Did you ever seek a second opinion from someone outside the organization?” To which Kawhi replied:

Don’t really want to get into the details on that. Just focus on something else.

Which essentially ended the presser. Feel free to wildly speculate in the comments.

Source: Pounding The Rock