Who knew that the Bay Area’s injury plague started from the boss itself? While we knew Stephen Curry was playing with a runner’s knee and Jimmy Butler was recovering from a torn ACL, nobody knew about their head coach’s bout with pain. Steve Kerr may have just signed a two-year extension and become the highest-paid coach in the NBA, but the underlying issues began during Game 5 of the 2015 NBA Finals. And multiple surgeries and therapies later, the pain still persists for the Golden State Warriors head honcho.

It was the first of his many NBA Finals as the head coach, and that’s when he tweaked his back. It turned out to be a disc injury in his lumbar spine. But dealing with the pain became an afterthought as they won the championship in Game 6, followed by a celebration that involved more physical activities like golfing and beach volleyball. Wright Thompson of ESPN provides a detailed account of how the doctor’s suggested spinal fusion surgery did more harm than good. “After the operation, Kerr felt better for about 10 days, then got hit by a strange headache, similar to migraines he’d suffered since around 13. Neck pain followed. Some doctors suspected the surgeon had accidentally nicked the protective membrane around Kerr’s spine, which caused a leak of fluid.”

In reality, these kinds of surgeries are only about 50% effective, according to Tompkins Chiropractic. But at the time, this appeared to be the only option that Kerr had. And despite all the resources at hand for the Warriors and Kerr, the pain would remain a mystery. Kerr remained “in agony” for months, even after the following season was nearly done. And this forced him to take a leave of absence in only the second year of his dream NBA job. Kerr spent most of this time off in his family’s second home in San Diego and struggled to get out of bed. His wife, Margot, continued searching for remedies online.

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The Warriors legend reportedly even underwent a spinal cord leak procedure in May 2017. Mike Brown took over as interim coach while Kerr missed crucial games against the Utah Jazz in Round 2. Eventually, Kerr returned and won the NBA title, but he remained in pain. He went to every doctor he could find, hoping they’d figure out what was wrong. This included flying to Mayo, to Duke, or even to England for stem-cell therapy not approved in the United States. But… nothing worked.

Then, one fine day, Kerr’s phone rang. It turned out to be Tiger Woods, who convinced a mutual friend to pass on his phone number. Now, the legendary golfer is someone who has dealt with chronic pain, but when Kerr was asked if they found a solution, he lightheartedly said, “No, but we commiserated.” The pressure he felt behind his eye mimicked the symptoms of papilledema. That led him to get a full neuro workup done from an expert at UC San Francisco. But it came back totally normal. And to make things worse, three different ophthalmologists found no evidence of anything!

The NBA coach also tried marijuana to help reduce that pain. “I guess maybe I could even get in some trouble for this, but I’ve actually tried [marijuana] twice during the last year and a half when I’ve been going through this pain, this chronic pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Kerr told CSN host Monte Poole in 2016. It was a tricky situation for him because he had to also control the amount of painkillers he had taken over the last two years.

Kerr has been in pain for 11 years now. On some level, he’d given up on relief. Then, this offseason, while on vacation in France, he listened to a podcast with psychotherapist and back pain expert Nicole Sachs. There was a connection since Sachs worked with NBA star Michael Porter Jr., who, like Kerr, underwent three back surgeries. For the Warriors coach, her work was similar to that of psychotherapist Alan Gordon, who also developed Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT). He even wrote a book, “The Way Out,” and worked with Kerr.

“Both Gordon and Sachs expanded on the work of Dr. John Sarno, who believed that chronic pain like Kerr’s came from unresolved, buried trauma, and the pain was the mind’s way of crying out for help,” according to ESPN. “It’s called tension myositis syndrome, where emotional stress causes physical responses.” So Nicole’s podcast quickly reminded him of this procedure, and “[Kerr’s] personality type of a sensitive perfectionist fit the mold of a TMS sufferer.”

Creating a dynasty as a coach and winning championships as a player requires the perfect purpose. So Kerr read ‘Mind Your Body: A Revolutionary Programme to Release Chronic Pain and Anxiety by Sachs.’ And the first quote he read made him realize that this treatment would be the right solution for him. It opened with a C.S. Lewis quote: “It is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken.” This involved setting a timer for 20 minutes and journaling about trauma, anger, shame, and hatred every morning alongside a round of meditation.

While the pain has continued for more than a decade, Kerr can now finally feel it “receding”. There is also more positive news. “The pressure behind his eyes almost going away,” Thompson pointed out on ESPN. “The emotional awakening left him raw, and he remained uncertain in his own future with the team, but his daily journaling and meditation brought comfort.” This even led to him picking up his clubs again and meeting at Down in Rancho Santa Fe, after a year of not swinging! And the reduced pain has somewhat played a key role as the boss man is set to return.

Stephen Curry helped Steve Kerr make ‘the decision’

Before having the first meeting with Joe Lacob, Steve Kerr would drive down to Atherton to meet with Stephen Curry at his house. They have been together for over a decade, beginning in 2014. And before signing the latest extension, it was important for the two of them to sit together and outline the goals. “Curry could request a trade to a better team, but would never make his kids change schools or disrupt their lives any more than his strange job has already disrupted them. These were family men making family decisions, rooted in loyalty to their families, and to the Warriors, which had come to feel like the same thing.”

It took another week and another meeting with the owners, but Kerr did put pen to paper and extended his stay for two more years. He felt that the blood family needed him, so he was back in the Bay Area. The Warriors’ coach even had two important questions. “How do we coach this team?” he asked Dunleavy. “How do we get our mojo back?”

The Dubs posted a 37-win season and exited in the play-in. But this was without their star or the head coach being 100% healthy. With a new and improved Jimmy Butler-Stephen Curry duo, the Warriors can look to contend again. So, Kerr’s personal sacrifice over the years to win NBA titles in 2015, 17, 18, and 22 ends on a positive note.

Contractually, Curry is with the team for the upcoming season on a league-leading $62 million salary. Expect this to continue further for another year (marking the second year of Kerr’s new contract) as the Dubs prepare for one last push at glory.