Warriors coach Steve Kerr underwent spinal cord leak procedure

ByABC News
May 7, 2017, 2:15 AM

— -- SALT LAKE CITY -- Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr had a spinal cord leak procedure on his back and remains out indefinitely.

In an interview with Bloomberg Radio on Friday, Warriors owner Joe Lacob said Kerr had his spine drained to hopefully alleviate the health issues that have forced him to take a temporary leave of absence from the team.

"Hopefully the leak was solved; he had another procedure. It's gone on for nearly two years. Very unusual, I believe," Lacob said to Bloomberg Radio. "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."

Kerr did not travel to Salt Lake City for the Warriors' 102-91 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, which gave them a 3-0 lead in their Western Conference second-round series.?

Kerr had back surgery about two years ago and has been dealing with complications. Assistant Mike Brown took over as acting coach for Game 3 of the team's first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers?and has been running the team since then.

Warriors general manager Bob Myers said he hopes Kerr will recover soon, more from the standpoint of a friend than of a GM.

"It's one of those things that's a little surreal," Myers said. "He is somebody that's one of the best people I've ever met, and I picture him, we talked about this last night before the game, we all have things in our life that don't make sense and I just can't wait. I will be so happy when he's better for him and his family and everybody that is close to him. ... He's a great human being and my hope is that with this time off we figure it out, the doctors figure it out and he gets back to first life. Enjoying life and then coaching our team."

The Warriors are 7-0 in the playoffs, posting the longest winning streak in a single postseason in franchise history.

Warriors forward Kevin Durant said the team is thinking of their coach.

"We all care about him and worry about him," he said. "Knowing Coach, he wants us to focus on the task at hand. Once Bob and Mike Brown and the rest of the staff gets [an] update, they tell us. But for the most part, we're always thinking about him and praying he gets better."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.