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"When he's not at practice, I'm going to be little depressed, I think," Popovich said this week. "It makes me sad. I'm going to miss it an awful lotI'll think about it when it happens and it'll be tough, but until then I'm not going to start being unhappy now."

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"That's very possible. I always said that [he'd leave with Duncan], because it's kind of a funny line. It seems pretty logical and smart to do that. I know where my bread is buttered," Popovich said with a laugh. "But I basically made the same commitments to Manu [Ginobili] and to Tony [Parker] that when they signed contracts, they wanted to know if I'm going to be here and I tell them I am, so it's pretty tough to go ahead and leave."

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The Austin Toros became the Austin Spurs today.

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"As I said, the silliness begins," he said. "Most wise individuals would check facts before they made statements. Unless you're interested in putting on a show. In that case, the facts get in your way, as in this case.

"We had five guys we didn't send. Patty Mills had a shoulder operation over the summer. Tiago Splitter (calf) has been out the whole preseason. Kawhi Leonard (eye infection) was out and is still out for 10 more days. The other two, Duncan and Ginobili, are two of the oldest guys in the league who just came back from a 13-day European trip.

"The only thing that surprises me is that he didn't say it in a chicken suit. I'll just leave it at that."

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San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard has an eye infection, and it looks like it will keep him out for the remainder of the preseason. The infection also makes him questionable for the Spurs' season opener against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 28, and it sounds like absolutely no fun at all.
"It is going back and forth between the two (eyes)," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said Saturday, via the San Antonio Express-News. "It's crazy. Kawhi is still out for 10 more days."
Leonard has only appeared in one preseason game, the Spurs' surprising loss to ALBA Berlin on Oct. 8. The Finals MVP had 14 points and seven rebounds in that game, then complained about his eye bothering him after traveling from Germany to Turkey.
It's never good to be missing a core player in training camp and the preseason, but San Antonio should be just fine. The organization brought back everybody who played meaningful minutes on last year's championship team. The Spurs did want to stretch Leonard a bit more offensively, though, and they might end up having to experiment with that during the regular season rather than in exhibitions.

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