Leonard Re-Injures Ankle, Exits Game 1

6:07pm: Team sources inform Marc Spears of ESPN that Leonard will undergo an MRI on his left ankle tonight.

5:50pm: Leonard’s ankle “doesn’t look good,” Marc Spears of ESPN tweets, adding, however, that Leonard hasn’t ruled out playing in Game 2 on Tuesday.

5:38pm: ESPN’s Michael C. Wright reports that Leonard walked to the training room without a limp and with nothing on his ankle. Wright tweets that they’re taping the ankle now. Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News tweets that Leonard is limping “a bit.”

5:30pm: The Spurs watched a 25-point lead fade away against the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals but their biggest loss may be of a different nature. As Sam Amick of USA Today outlines, with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter, Kawhi Leonard appeared to re-aggravate his injured left ankle.

Minutes into the second half, Leonard pulled up for a three in the corner, defended by Zaza Pachulia. At that point Pachulia closed out hard and Leonard landed on the big man’s extended foot.

The injury is particularly concerning for two reasons, the obvious one being that the superstar MVP candidate missed the remainder of the game, another being that this is the same ankle Leonard hurt in Game 5 of San Antonio’s previous series.

Last week Leonard sat out Game 6 against the Rockets and it appears the forward could miss time here as well, although no official declarations have been made by the team.

Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune noted that if the Spurs rest Leonard for Game 2 on the road, he’ll have six days of recovery prior to the series shifting back to San Antonio for Game 3.

As details about Leonard’s status come in, we’ll update this post.