Gregg Popovich dismissed the suggestion from a local reporter that the Spurs are currently experiencing a "soap opera" due to reports of Kawhi Leonard's frustrations with the franchise.

Multiple league sources described Leonard and his representatives as being "distant" and "disconnected" from the Spurs.

"I don't even know why you say it's a soap opera," Popovich said. "Some people wrote some articles. I understand it, but soap opera? It's a soap opera if we talk about it every day, I guess. I don't get it. We won't talk about it. There's nothing to talk about other than what we've already said.

"The rehab is going slower than we expected. We wish it were going more quickly. If we're going to err, as we have in the past, we're going to do it on the conservative side. We kept Timmy Duncan out of the playoffs one year because of a knee, and he could have played. So I don't see this as anything different than we've done with any other player. But some people for some reason want to do that. That's OK. But that doesn't affect my team or me or anybody else."