Calf strain sidelines Tobias Harris for Spurs preseason

Tobias Harris will miss San Antonio’s preseason after straining his left calf during training camp, and the Spurs have listed him as questionable for their October 20 regular-season opener against Oklahoma City. The injury delays the veteran forward’s first games with a team that signed him this summer to add experience and scoring to its frontcourt.

The Spurs announced the injury Sunday before their annual Silver & Black scrimmage at Frost Bank Center. Harris did not take part. He will be reevaluated after the team’s five-game preseason schedule, according to the team information reported by the Associated Press and ESPN’s Michael C. Wright.

The immediate consequence is a lost stretch of game preparation with his new teammates. San Antonio Express-News reporter Tom Orsborn reported that the exhibition schedule begins Thursday against Atlanta and ends October 16. The opener against the Thunder follows four days later; the current designation leaves Harris’s availability for that game unresolved.

Harris joined San Antonio on July 6 after two seasons in Detroit. He averaged 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 27.7 minutes last season, helping the Pistons finish first in the Eastern Conference regular-season standings. Orsborn reported that his Spurs agreement covers two years and $31 million.

That résumé gives the Spurs an experienced option at either forward position, but the preseason now offers no opportunity to try him in those combinations. Pounding The Rock’s Marilyn Dubinski pointed to Julian Champagnie, Harrison Barnes and Carter Bryant as existing depth at the position. Those players remain available options while Harris is sidelined; the injury announcement did not establish a replacement starting lineup.

The next confirmed checkpoint for Harris is the reevaluation after preseason. San Antonio’s October 20 matchup with Oklahoma City is a rematch of the previous Western Conference finals, but Harris’s debut depends on a later availability update.