Saturday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs has huge implications. The Spurs are one back in the loss column, chasing the Warriors for the No. 1 seed. It should be a titanic battle between the West’s superpowers, with homecourt in a potential Western Conference finals on the line. 

Instead, it’s going to be massively disappointing. Kevin Durant was obviously already out with his knee injury. On Friday, San Antonio announced that after a blow to the head Thursday vs. Oklahoma City, Kawhi Leonard had entered the NBA’s concussion protocol and will miss the game. Then, after the Warriors had to play their remaining Big 3 heavy minutes in a loss to the Wolves, Steve Kerr gave fans the bad news:

So I hope you all like Davis Bertans and Patrick McCaw, because there’s going to be a whole lot of them on Saturday night. It’s a rough go for ABC, but then, this is also a reason why the NBA’s decision to backload the season with marquee matchups because of football is a bad idea. More teams rest at the end of season than start.

KD and Leonard being out was unavoidable, that’s just injury stuff. And if the Durant injury was earlier in the season, maybe Kerr would have had to rest them all the same. But it’s a bummer for basketball fans. 

The two teams do play again, on Wednesday, March 29, on ESPN, and maybe that one will live up to the billing. 

But for now, you can find other plans on Saturday, like watching Jazz-Thunder on League Pass. Unless you’re just a huge Patty Mills or Kevon Looney fan.