SAN ANTONIO -- The Spurs aren’t in a hurry to push either of their biggest offseason additions back onto the floor.
Tobias Harris is still coming back from a calf strain he suffered in training camp, and rookie Jayden Quaintance is rehabbing after tearing his right meniscus and ACL during his freshman year. Harris looks closer to a return than Quaintance, but neither player has a firm timetable yet. For San Antonio, patience is the plan.
That approach fits a team that has already watched the injury bug hit around the league early. The Spurs have seen opponents lose players such as Anthony Edwards, Jaren Jackson Jr., Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving, while the Oklahoma City Thunder have been without a majority of their starting five for the foreseeable future.
“We definitely talk about it,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’re in the league, and so you see players and a lot of big-name players and important players to this league... we don’t want to see any players go down, but obviously, some of the bigger faces in this league. It’s a tricky one, you know?”
Johnson also pointed to the broader picture when asked what might be driving the wave of injuries.
“There’s a lot of talk about style of play,” he said. “It felt like players played less in the preseason.
I don’t know if that has any correlation or anything, that’s just my own observation in terms of looking around the league. I don’t know what that had to do with anything, I don’t know what guys did all during the off season to speak on that.
But I definitely think there’s conversations being had because this is something that I don’t think anybody wants, and hopefully we can try to prevent it more in the future.”
Harris, signed in free agency as a veteran presence and a versatile wing, is viewed as a possible missing piece for San Antonio. But the Spurs aren’t going to gamble with his long-term health just to get him back early.
“It’s a deal where it’s a constant, delicate balance of healing, getting things right, and then getting in shape and conditioning and fitness, and then the style of play, how we want to play in terms of high-end speed and distance that we cover,” Johnson said of Harris’ ramp up. “There’s a lot of things, and he hasn’t played a game since the spring.”
There’s no sign Harris has hit a setback, but the Spurs have no interest in bringing him back before he’s truly ready.
“He’s doing so well.” Johnson said.
“But we need to just be patient and make sure we get it all the way right and get him all the way right in terms of being ready to prepare to play an NBA game at the style of play that we want. So, yeah, it’s just taking it very, very methodically, I think which is appropriate...
It’s a calf strain, so that’s a thing that we’ve seen can be tricky, right?”
That caution is no surprise. Calf strains have a history of keeping players sidelined longer than expected, and they can raise the risk of more serious injuries. Add in the amount of force and lateral movement demanded by the modern game, and the Spurs’ conservative stance makes sense.
“There’s no magic number, but it’s a long season, and these guys play their butts off in terms of the output of energy they give, and I think we just have to continue to be mindful of that,” Johnson said. “We also, on the other side of spectrum, feel really good about our depth and our roster, one through 15 and 17 if you include the Two Ways. So it’s utilizing all that while also being mindful of all that.”
Quaintance’s situation has always been about the long view. When the Spurs took him in the first round, they knew he would need time to rebuild his body, and they had the luxury of letting him develop without being forced into immediate duty.
“Jayden is doing great, that’s one of those deals when a young man is gonna have a road like that, you just kinda want him to get lost in the process of it,” Johnson said. “He’s done a great job of that while also being super engaged with his teammates and with the staff.”
The Spurs believe they can be patient because they drafted him into a roster that can afford to wait. Johnson said Quaintance’s work around the team has already mattered.
“I have no expectation other than him pounding the rock in his own way and being around the team as much as possible,” Johnson said. “The amount of engagement and participation he’s had, whether it’s film sessions or practice sessions or sitting in when other people who are getting coached from feedback from the games, I think will be very good for his development.”
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