Warriors coach Steve Kerr recovering from spinal fluid leak

LOS ANGELES, USA – Steve Kerr, who coached the Golden State Warriors to the NBA title last season, said Sunday a spinal fluid leak after back surgery led to his absence from the team.

Kerr, speaking at the team’s practice facility in northern California, said that he suffered the leak of spinal fluid during back surgery on July 28, and despite a second procedure to address the problem was still experiencing symptoms.

“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,” said Kerr, who announced on October 1 he would be away from the team indefinitely.

“But I lost spinal fluid, took about a month to figure out what was going on, a lot of headaches, some other symptoms.”

“The leak is fixed, but still getting some symptoms, but that’s why I’m out,” Kerr said.

Kerr appointed Luke Walton as interim coach and said he is not sure when he’ll return.

He met with the media Sunday to erase any “gray area” and end questions about the cause of his absence with the start of the NBA season approaching on October 27.

“Unfortunately, it’s not like a sprained ankle, one to two weeks,” Kerr said. “There’s no telling. It’s a little bit open-ended, but everyone’s confident I’m going to be fine.

“That’s where I am. I’m not going to be put a timetable on when I’m going to come back.” – Rappler.com