Warriors' Head Coach Steve Kerr will take indefinite leave of absence to recover from back surgeries

Last season as a Rookie Head Coach Steve Kerr led the Warriors to their first championship in 40 years.

The Golden State Warriors announced on Thursday that Head Coach Steve Kerr will take an indefinite leave of absence from the team. Kerr, who underwent a back surgery in late July to repair a ruptured disc and a follow-up surgery in September, needed time off to focus on his rehabilitation and recovery process in order to be ready for the grind of the NBA regular season.

The duration of his absence is not known so far and will depend on his progress but a source told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that Kerr would be ready to coach when Warriors tip-off their regular season against the New Orleans Pelicans on October 27th.

“At this point, the most important thing is to make sure Steve is healthy, completely recovered and ready for not only the rigors of a long NBA season, but day-to-day life in general,” said Warriors General Manager Bob Myers. “We don’t anticipate the recovery process will be long term, but as of today we don’t know the exact timeframe. We’ll evaluate his progress daily and provide updates as necessary.”

Warriors Lead Assistant Coach Luke Walton will take over as Interim Head Coach till Kerr returns. Walton worked as an Assistand Coach last season but moved into the lead role when Alvin Gentry was hired as Head Coach by the Pelicans. Walton is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Walton and has played 10 years in the league. He spent nine of those 10 years with the Los Angeles Lakers where he won two championships under Hall of Famer coach Phil Jackson and then he spent a lone year at the Cleveland with the Cavaliers.

"After the first two days of training camp, I realized I need to take a step back and focus on my rehabilitation in order to be ready for the grind of another NBA season," Kerr said in a statement. "As I noted last week, my summer was difficult and no fun due to the multiple back surgeries. At this point, I simply want to get healthy and back to my normal daily routine on and off the court."

It is said that Kerr ruptured this disc in his back during Game 5 of the most recent NBA Finals in June. This past June, Kerr became the first rookie Head Coach to lead his team to a championship since Pat Riley completed the feat with the Lakers in 1982, when his Warriors defeated the LeBron James and the Cavaliers 105-97 in Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals.

The Warriors coaching staff believe their team has the right attitude and right mix of veterans and youngsters to go through pre-season without their Head Coach. Kerr had planned to take a back seat after the first practise and was cleared to only "walk around and yell at people, talk to the press."

Defending Champs Warriors tip-off their pre-season schedule against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.