Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Sunday that a spinal fluid leak caused his absence from the team.
Kerr had suffered the leak on July 28 when he had back surgery on a ruptured disk and required an additional surgery Sept. 4 to fix the issue, according to ESPN.
“I had a spinal fluid leak during the first surgery,” Kerr said Sunday at the Warriors' media session after practice. “It's very rare, it does happen occasionally, but it happens when there's an accidental nick of the dura that surrounds the spinal cord.
“I lost spinal fluid, took about a month to figure out what was going on, a lot of headaches, some other symptoms,” he added.
Kerr led the Warriors to the team’s best season in franchise history, winning a franchise-best 67 wins last season before tearing through the playoffs and ultimately defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals to win their first championship since 1975.
It was an incredible season for the team, as it saw Stephen Curry win the MVP and Kerr come runner-up in the Coach of the Year award, finishing behind Atlanta Hawks’ Mike Budenholzer. It was Kerr’s first year as head coach.
While Kerr is set to be sidelined indefinitely, assistant coach Luke Walton will be taking over on an interim basis, according to the Washington Post.