"I'm just trying to be honest and logical. I'll be surprised if he (Kawhi Leonard) gets back this year," said Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in an interview on Wednesday when talking about when star forward injured Kawhi would return.

In October 2017, the Spurs announced that Kawhi would miss the whole 2017-18 NBA preseason because of a right quad tendinopathy injury. They first intended to help Kawhi get enough rest so he could come back in 100 percent health for the regular season.

However, besides the preseason games, Kawhi also missed the first 27 games of the regular season and made his first appearance on the court on Dec. 12, 2017. On Jan. 17, the Spurs announced that he would rest, with no clear schedule of return.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski wrote that the doctors have already cleared Kawhi for a return to the court. Nonetheless, he has the final say on when to return, which depends on how comfortable he feels with his right leg in the game. So far, neither the Spurs nor coach Popovich have directly said their star forward would not return.

The Spurs now rank the third in the Western Conference with 35 wins and 24 losses, 10 games away from the Houston Rockets. The Minnesota Timberwolves - currently ranked fourth - have won 36 games and lost 25, and are capable of turning the tide with one game.

What's also unfavorable for the Spurs is that they lost all of the four games against the Rockets and the Golden State Warriors with double digits. Though they won 60 percent of the games without Kawhi, most of these wins were against weak teams. When they had to turn to superstars in games, they discovered that LaMarcus Aldridge is not good enough to carry the team on his own.

As the 2017-18 NBA season progressed, the Rockets and the Warriors have become the best teams in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, have defeated these two teams, making them a very dangerous opponent in the play-offs. The young Timberwolves, with their extraordinary talents, are also not to be neglected.

Kawhi signed a five-year contract of about 90 million US dollars with the Spurs in 2015 with an option to abandon it during the 2019-20 season. Since he meets the "designated veteran player rule" (DPVR), Kawhi can choose to sign a five-year contract of 217 million US dollars with the Spurs.

Nevertheless, the injury makes this difficult. A player must fulfill one of three conditions before signing such a huge contract: 1. He must be elected into the Team of the Year in the past season or in two of the past three seasons; 2. He must be Defensive Player Of the Year (DPOY) in the past season or in two of the past three season; 3. He must be MVP of NBA regular season in at least one of the past three years.

Kawhi was DPOY of both 2014-15 and 2015-16 season, though the former is already out the "past three years". He was also in Team of the Year in 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. So he can benefit from a DPVR contract in the summer of 2018. This should have been a easy job considering the contributions and strengths Kawhi makes and has, his injury and absence has shadowed everything.

If he needs to sign the contract next summer, things will get more complicated. Even if Kawhi chooses to return tomorrow, there is no way for him to win any of the above awards in 23 games of this season, meaning he needs to win one of them in the next season. Considering the fact that he has been absent for almost the whole season, a big question mark will be written about what performance he can bring in 2018-19 season.