Tobias Harris Injury Update: When Will Spurs Free-Agent Signee Get Healthy?

Tobias Harris did not make his San Antonio Spurs debut on Tuesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder ...

And they sure could've used him as the Spurs got bullied, 116-104 at home.

How soon can he come to the defending West champ's rescue?

Harris, 34, strained his left calf during training camp. He was among the nine Spurs listed as coach's decisions for the Oct. 12 preseason game at Utah, and Johnson said early in camp that San Antonio would not push him to be ready for Game 1.

San Antonio signed the forward to a two-year, $31 million contract in free agency. Last season with the Detroit Pistons, he averaged 13.3 points and shot 36.8% from 3-point range for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Harris was drafted in 2011. In early August, he was part of the group that joined Victor Wembanyama for voluntary workouts in Nanterre, France.

Johnson said Harris is ramping up and wants to play.

"He's not ready to play tomorrow," Johnson said earlier this week. "He's ramping up. He's improving. He's progressing. And, yeah, I would say he still needs some more progression on the court, and obviously just in terms of — you get on the court and there's quite a bit of layers that you have to work through, whether that's how many people are on the floor, the amount of contact, amount of activity, distance, speed, et cetera, et cetera."

"So he's progressing well. We feel really good about it. He is ready to go and really wants to be out there, and I think it's right where it needs to be," Johnson continued.

The Spurs also listed Jayden Quaintance as out. The 19-year-old, taken 20th overall out of Kentucky in June, had surgery on his right knee in July. Knee injuries limited him during his second college season.

Without Harris, the Spurs still had Harrison Barnes, Julian Champagnie, and Keldon Johnson at forward. Keldon Johnson is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year. Champagnie started for San Antonio last season and scored 20 points in Game 7 of the conference finals.

The coach started Dylan Harper alongside De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Wembanyama. ... with Wemby's 1-of-13 shooting night being the big problem.

To Johnson, all 30 teams are starting at the bottom of the mountain.

"I think the biggest thing for me is just being able to go through this for 365 days," Johnson explained before Tuesday's game. "So forget the results for a second, just being able to go through the process for myself, and I think for a lot of the people that are in the program again that were here last year, is the biggest thing. In terms of what we did last year, [it] doesn't matter at this point, right? We're all at the bottom of the mountain, all 30 teams trying to start our journey.

"And the hunter versus the hunted, I think, is a perspective that the outside may have, but I don't think that needs to change in terms of our approach or how we attack the game and the season."

San Antonio went 62-20 last season and needed all seven games to get past Oklahoma City in the conference finals. The Thunder went 64-18. Counting the postseason, the teams played 12 times.

Both programs carried many of the same faces into Tuesday, but soon enough, it is hoped that a new face in Tobias Harris joins the Spurs fold.