2018 NBA Playoffs: 8 X-Factors to keep an eye on in the first-round

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

I’m cheating I know. No X Factor can be an Finals MVP, First Team All-NBA, Runner up MVP Candidate, All-Star, and back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year, I get it. But Kawhi Leonard has appeared in just nine games and lately it feels more like he’s done in San Antonio than not.

He’s actually dealt with issues from this current quad injury throughout much of his career. He missed 23 games with what was called quad or knee issues in his second year and it was later classified as “Jumper’s Knee” and now Tendinopathy.

Because of the nature of tendon injuries, I think he could probably play on it and look pretty good. He did in his last game back in January. For what it’s worth, Spurs reporter, Paul Garcia doesn’t think we’ll see him back at all, but that if we did he might appear to be at around 75 percent. Here was his reply to my query:

Now, 75 percent sounds ok. What we don’t know is how much pain that would cause, or how much that would set back his ability to perhaps address the underlying causes. For example, if taking the year off would have allowed him enough rest and rehab to be closer to 100 percent next season, it’s probably not worth him playing. On the other hand, with a matchup vs the Steph Curryless Warriors, even a 75 percent effort on his part could be enough for The Spurs to leap on the defending champions while they’re most vulnerable. Pretty tempting risk.

Klay Thompson recently returned from a thumb injury, Kevin Durant was out for a time with rib injuries, Draymond Green wasn’t 100 percent. Now is the time to strike if “The Claw” has anything to give and doesn’t believe he’ll set himself back significantly. Maybe he wants to avenge the cheap shot Zaza Pachulia took on him a year ago, too. I don’t expect it, but this is an ideal first round matchup if he wanted to try.