A shorthanded San Antonio Spurs almost came away with an impressive win on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers but suffered a loss in the final seconds as C.J. McCollum hit a game-winning shot.

The Blazers secured a narrow 111-110 victory over the visitors who were without Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Danny Green and Rudy Gay.

The campaign has been filled with injuries for San Antonio but they have rallied and remained competitive regardless of who they have on the floor.

Of their absentees, the most worrying for them is superstar Leonard who only recently returned from a long spell out with a torn quad.

The All-Star suffered a shoulder injury in their previous encounter against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night and head coach Gregg Popovich has worried fans by confirming the extent of the issue.

Pop told reporters after the loss to the Blazers that the small forward has a "partial tear" in his left shoulder but he doesn't expect his star player to miss too much time.

"I don't think it will be a while," Popovich said in regards to Leonard's status, per ESPN.

The Spurs have two more games on their current road trip as they'll take on the Sacramento Kings on Monday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.

Coach Pop is unsure whether the two-time Defensive Player of the Year will play in either game.

"I don't know," he said. "It depends on how his shoulder goes. It's too bad because he was starting to get back into form a little bit after playing a couple of games."

This setback adds to Kawhi's frustrations this year after he missed the first 27 games of the campaign.

In an effort to ease him back slowly, the franchise has held him out of five games since his return in what they call "return from injury management" where he doesn't play in back-to-backs.

The injury comes at a bad time for the 26-year-old as he began to produce his best basketball again in recent games.

In the encounter with the Suns, he played 29 minutes and scored 21 points to go with three rebounds and three assists. He also showed signs of getting back to his best defensively as he notched four steals and three blocks.

"It's disappointing. We need him," veteran Manu Ginobili said. "He started to feel better, to feel good and then we lose him for a few games and we don't know how many."

The Argentine filled in well as he dropped 26 points off the bench but the Spurs know that their chances of success this season hinge on the health and production of Leonard.

They will certainly hope that this latest injury doesn't keep him out for too long.