Warriors’ Steve Kerr takes leave of absence

Golden State announced on Thursday that Kerr will take an immediate leave of absence to recover from a pair of recent back surgeries.

Kerr, in the season after leading the Warriors to the National Basketball Association championship, lasted only two days of training camp before consulting with general manager Bob Myers and stepping side temporarily.

How this will affect the Warriors is unknown.

Until his return, the interim coach for Kerr with be Luke Walton. This exposes a hole in the Warriors management structure with the loss of Alvin Gentry to the Pelicans in the offseason, and now no coaches on the roster with Head Coaching experience in their past. The Warriors, who won a franchise record 67 games last season and captured the team’s first National Basketball Association title in 40 years, will also unveil the 2014-15 National Basketball Association Championship banner at Oracle Arena during the pregame ceremony.

Kerr underwent surgery on his back to fix a ruptured disc in late July and a follow-up surgery in early September, the team stated.

“We’ll keep this ship moving in the right direction until our captain [Steve Kerr] can return”, stated Walton, via Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.

While the rest of the Warriors were celebrating their National Basketball Association title this summer (and playing a little golf), Steve Kerr did something decidedly less fun and had back surgeries. Giving Kerr enough time to recover fully is a nice gesture by the organization, and it won’t hurt the team long-term. “We’ll evaluate his progress daily and provide updates necessary”.

Kerr’s leave of absence coincided with the appearance of player development consultant Steve Nash at practice for the first time. This isn’t exactly the best way to start a run at a repeat, but expect the 50-year-old to make a full recovery and be back to coaching relatively soon.

Walton, the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton, played collegiately at Arizona under Lute Olson and spent 10 years in the National Basketball Association.