Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr underwent a spinal cord leak procedure on his back after traveling to Duke University on Friday prior to Game 3 of the series, and remains out indefinitely.
Co-owner Joe Lacob provided an update of Kerr's condition this Saturday during an interview with Bloomberg Radio.
“It’s very unfortunate what’s happening here,” Lacob said in the interview, per Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News. “He had a back surgery. Relatively common procedure almost two years ago now. And had a what is really a relatively uncommon thing happen. Which is the dura around the spinal cord got nicked. And you wind up having a spinal cord leak. And ultimately headaches and other symptoms. Bad headaches. Migraines. Unfortunately usually they patch that with a blood patch and it’s over. Either in a week or month. Whatever. And in his case for whatever reason they just haven’t been able to solve that problem.
“Hopefully it was solved yesterday he had another procedure. It’s gone on for nearly two years. Very unusual I believe. I have a medical background so I know a little bit about this. I’ve never really heard of many people having this problem for this long. We feel really bad for him, the players, everybody understands it. We just have to be in his court here and support whatever it takes for him to get back and I’m sure they will eventually solve it. Hopefully sooner rather than later and hopefully we’ll have him coaching on the court sooner rather than later.”
The 52-year-old was not able to travel to Salt Lake City for his team's 102-91 victory over the Utah Jazz, which gave Golden State a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals, choosing to see specialist and have the procedure in order to help cease the symptoms that have plagued him throughout the season.
Kerr had back surgery in the offseason of 2015 and then another shortly after to prevent spinal leaks complications, keeping him out for the first 43 games of the 2015-16 season.
Assistant Mike Brown has taken over as the acting coach since Game 3 of the first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers last month.
The Warriors have gone 5-0 with Brown at the helm and are 7-0 this postseason, boasting the longest winning streak for a single postseason in the history of the franchise.
This procedure could be pivotal for Kerr's coaching career, as he promised to make a definitive decision on his future after he had gotten answers on his ability to be on the sidelines — claiming he was looking for a permanent solution rather than a partial one.
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