The San Antonio Spurs aren’t sure when Kawhi Leonard’s season will start.Fortunately for them, there’s another All-Star forward on the roster to carry the load.LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spurs to an 87-77 victory over the Bulls in the Bulls’ home opener.It was his second straight double-double after signing a three-year contract extension a day before the season began.

”I’ve been in a different mindset since the summer started,” Aldridge said. ”That carried over to training camp to preseason to now. I don’t think I’ve changed after the contract. My mindset coming into the season was to try to be more dominant.Rudy Gay added 12 points for the Spurs, who have not provided a timetable for Leonard’s return from a right quadriceps injury, though Popovich said it will be ”weeks rather than months.”
In the meantime, they’ll ride Aldridge, who scored 12 points in a 22-13 run that gave the Spurs a 63-51 third-quarter lead.
”They moved the ball better than we did,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ”I thought they shared it. They got more open shots than we did. I thought they did a great job.L.A. was just a difference maker for us, the way he scored. The defense in the second half and L.A.’s offense was what got us over. I thought they actually executed better than we did.”

Robin Lopez had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Bills, also short-handed without power forwards Niko Mirotic (facial fractures, concussion) and Bobby Portis (suspension).Rookie Lauri Markkanen, thrust into the starting lineup because of an incident in practice Tuesday that ultimately sidelined both Mirotic and Portis, had 13 points and 12 rebounds.