Kawhi Leonard asks Spurs coaches not to rest him

If it was up to him, Kawhi Leonard wouldn't take any games off.

The San Antonio Spurs superstar has let his coaching staff know he wants to suit up in the team's six remaining regular-season contests.

"I told them I want to play out the games," Leonard told the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald. "But we'll see what happens."

The final six games are crammed into a nine-day span, including four over five nights starting Tuesday.

"That's a lot of games, a lot of activity for the end of the season," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I think we need to manage it wisely."

San Antonio currently sits 3.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the top seed in the West, with the Spurs owning the tiebreaker. While there's a chance they could catch the Dubs and secure home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, they're facing an uphill battle and have a tougher schedule.

It seems probable, then, that Popovich's men will lock up the No. 2 seed and the bench boss will hold some players on the veteran squad out of games down the stretch - including Leonard, who ranks seventh in the league in usage rate at 31.2 percent.

After all, it was Pop who started the "DNP-rest" movement a few years ago as a means to keep his stars healthy and fresh for the postseason, and to prolong their playing careers.

Leonard has garnered some MVP buzz thanks to his career year. He's averaging 25.9 points, 5.9 boards, 3.6 assists, and 1.8 steals in 33.8 minutes per outing. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year works his tail off at both ends of the court, and is the main reason the Spurs haven't missed a beat in their first year without Tim Duncan, who retired after 2015-16. He's missed only seven games this year, three of which were for rest.