Steve Kerr has no timetable to return from back surgery to coach Warriors in NBA Finals

Kerr has missed significant time recovering from back surgery. Mike Brown has covered for him. Now, he may have to see it through to the end.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr won’t be back coaching. At least not yet.

Warriors GM Bob Myers said on Wednesday Kerr has no timetable to return from a battle against ongoing complications stemming from a 2015 back surgery. Instead, associate head coach Mike Brown, who took the helm in his absence, will continue to serve as interim head coach and lead the Warriors to a third straight NBA Finals appearance, presumably against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Kerr last coached Game 2 of Golden State’s first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz, but he sweated profusely during that game as a byproduct of the condition he’s been battling. He did not travel with the Warriors for Game 3 and hasn’t returned to sideline since.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob, who has a background in medicine, gave a detailed explanation on the reasoning behind Kerr’s absence:

"It’s very unfortunate what’s happening here. He had a back surgery. Relatively common procedure almost two years ago now. And had 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.

It’s unclear how long Kerr will be sidelined for. Hopefully he has a successful procedure and can return to the coaching ranks soon.