SAN ANTONIO — Labeled an emerging star, tagged by none other than Gregg Popovich as the future face of the Spurs' franchise, Kawhi Leonard entered his third season armed with the promise of opportunity.

Popovich vowed during training camp to call more plays for his 22-year-old small forward, and so far the Spurs' coach has made good on that guarantee.

“Once every four or five games,” Leonard said with a chuckle.

That is indeed an uptick from the zero plays Popovich estimates the Spurs ran for Leonard in his first two NBA campaigns, and it illustrates the at-times frustrating reality of Leonard's painstaking rise to stardom.

It is difficult to be the face of a franchise when there are three such faces still hanging around.

All-Stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili need their touches, too. It leaves Leonard, much as he did during his first two seasons, to find his offense organically and opportunistically — on steals and put-backs and transition baskets.

“I'd probably like him to be a little more aggressive,” Popovich said. “But when you've got Tony and Manu and Timmy out there, and you're the youngest of the group — way younger — you're probably going to defer more than you need to.”

Despite the breathless preseason hype surrounding Leonard's expanding space in the Spurs' hierarchy, his role has not changed dramatically. He remains the team's best on-ball defender, and at 6-foot-7, its best rebounding wing.

Leonard is averaging 11.7 points per game, fourth on the Spurs behind the Big Three and down only slightly from the career-best 11.9 he put up last season. He is shooting 50.4 percent, the best mark of his young career.

Leonard's 3-point percentage, hovering below 30 percent for much of the season, has begun to trend upward as well.

“It's not for me to score on the team,” Leonard said. “It's not built around me for that right now. So it's pretty much the same role as last year.”

Leonard's job, certainly, would look different on a worse team, or a younger one. The ball would be in his hands more by default.

Popovich prefers a cautious path to developing Leonard's offense.

“If the whole team was 22 years old, something like that, it would be easier,” Popovich said. “In this situation, especially since this team has had such success, he's wise to go a little bit more cautiously.”

Such thoughtfulness leaves Leonard in a tricky spot.

The final year of Leonard's standard rookie contract expires after next season. The Spurs have until Oct. 31 of this year to extend that deal — as the Indiana Pacers did with Paul George last September — or permit Leonard to become a restricted free agent in 2015.

A more prominent scoring role would almost certainly lead to a more favorable market for Leonard.

That is not to say Leonard is not advancing as an offensive player. His game is evolving in the manner most evolutions come — slowly, steadily, almost imperceptibly.

Leonard's usage percentage — defined as the percentage of a team's plays used by a given player when he is on the floor — is up by two points. He has been more assertive looking for his own shot in the flow of the offense, averaging almost 10 attempts per game.

The Spurs are calling more plays for Leonard in the post, the better to capitalize on matchup advantages against teams without a wing big enough to guard him.

According to Synergy Sports, Leonard already has tried more shots from the post (30) than all of last season (29).

“We call his number significantly more than we did last year,” Popovich said. “But we're not calling it like Kevin Durant yet.”

That day might never come. Not with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili around and maybe not even after they are gone.

For now, Leonard is content to be what he is — a growing player, still in the opening stages of his development and biding his time.

The future can wait.

“I'm fine,” Leonard said. “We're a winning team. We've got a goal, and I'm trying to help achieve it.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN