LaMarcus Aldridge (sore knee) won't play for Spurs Thursday

San Antonio Spurs forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge (sore right knee) will not play on Thursday versus the Philadelphia 76ers.

What It Means:

The Spurs are going to take a conservative approach as Aldridge has already dealt with knee soreness earlier this season. It also probably helps that the 76ers are expected to be without Joel Embiid (knee) on Thursday. David Lee, Dewayne Dedmon and Davis Bertans will also see an uptick in minutes, but Kawhi Leonard should benefit the most from the increased opportunity on offense.

Kawhi sees his usage rate shoot up from 29.0 to 35.6 when Aldridge is off the floor. Without yet accounting for the absence, our models project Leonard for 26.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 2.2 3-pointers versus Philadelphia.