Fans should be “cautiously optimistic” Spurs franchise player Kawhi Leonard will return to the court sooner rather than later, as coach Gregg Popovich recently put it, provided his lingering condition hasn’t been diagnosed as chronic, an expert with the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City said Tuesday.

“I think he’s going to be fine if they are truly saying what is wrong with him,” said Sabrina Strickland, an orthopedic sports surgeon who has been in practice more than 20 years. “Usually, it’s just a matter of doing the appropriate type of treatment to get better tissue in that area.”

Strickland has not examined Leonard or been part of his treatment.

A Spurs spokesman said Tuesday in a text message there still is “no timeline at this point” for Leonard’s return.

Leonard has been sidelined since just before the start of the preseason with what the Spurs say is right quadriceps tendinopathy, a condition that can cause the tendon to tire from overuse.

The ailment has plagued the two-time All-Star and two-time defensive player of the year since last season, Popovich has said.

Leonard, 26, attempted rehab over the summer, but it went “a little more slowly than we thought,” Popovich said in late September after the club announced the seventh-year pro would miss the preseason.

“They were probably thinking he was a little bit better and he started training a little bit more, reactivated it and then rather then get it really, really inflamed, they backed up and started doing something a little more aggressive (in terms of treatment),” Strickland said.

While Strickland said incidents of athletic careers ending from tendinopathy are “super rare,” she noted Leonard’s condition could be chronic, in which case, more aggressive treatment would be sought.

“Typically, with rest and physical therapy, they get over it and get back (in action) pretty quickly,” Strickland said. “But with ones that are more chronic, that’s when players tend to have more aggressive treatment, something more evasive than just the rest-and- rehab route, such as platelet rich plasma (therapy), and that can slow them down for a while because you have to allow some time for that to work.”

Strickland said, given how long Leonard has been out, that could be the case with him. The Spurs haven’t made Leonard available to the media since the start of training camp.

Another option for more aggressive treatment, Strickland said, would be the Regenokine process. According to the Stem Cell Institute, Regenokine is where “anti-inflammatory factors are removed from the patient’s blood, manipulated and then reinjected into the painful areas.”

“The point is,” Strickland said, “when it gets more chronic, you have to look at other ways to rev up the remodeling or the healing of that tissue.”

Popovich said two weeks ago Leonard’s rehab has “been more difficult” than the process injured point guard Tony Parker, 35, has gone through since he had surgery in May to repair a ruptured left quadriceps tendon.

“His body hasn’t reacted the same way,” Popovich said of Leonard. “Tony is at the point where he’s been going five-on-five and that sort of thing. He’s not totally confident. It will be a few more weeks. But he’s definitely going in the right direction, and so is Kawhi. It’s just been taking a little bit longer (with Leonard).”

Parker is hopeful he can return to the court either by the end of November or in December. He has been seen shooting free throws during the portion of practice open to the media at the club’s practice facility.

But there have been no sightings of Leonard at the practice facility. Popovich has said Leonard would have to achieve several benchmarks before he is ready to return.

“I wouldn’t want him to go right from rehab to jumping on the court,” Popovich said. “He has to go three on three, five on five, feel comfortable. Because in the end that confidence is what … Anybody who has been out any length of time has to get that back even if the doctors say, ‘Yep, you are ready to go.’ You really aren’t until you are mentally ready to go.”

Despite the loss of Leonard and Parker, the Spurs are 11-6 entering Wednesday night’s game at New Orleans.

torsborn@express-news.net

Twitter: @tom_orsborn