The Golden State Warriors will pay a visit to the Utah Jazz on Monday night in a battle between two teams fighting for position at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture. Unfortunately for the surging Warriors, they will be without their head coach for the contest.

Steve Kerr Out Tonight For Warriors

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will miss tonight’s game against the Jazz in Utah as he attended the funeral of late assistant coach Dejan Milojevic in Serbia

Kenny Atkinson will be the acting head coach.

(via @SportalSrbija) pic.twitter.com/ymG5DxqLop

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 12, 2024

Back in mid-January, Golden State took a few days off from their regular season schedule in order to mourn. While at a team dinner on the road in Utah on January 16th, assistant coach Dejan Milojevic suffered a heart attack. He passed away a day later, and basketball was put on the back burner as players took time away and games were postponed.

Eventually they came back. The Warriors have now played 10 games since coming back on January 24th, but head coach Steve Kerr will be out for tonight’s game against the Jazz as he pays his final respects to Milojevic. Kerr is in Serbia attending the official funeral for the fallen coach, and won’t be available until Wednesday night’s game back in San Francisco.

Kerr wasn’t the only one from the organization to fly overseas for the service. General Manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. was there as well, and so was consultant Zaza Pachulia.

Warriors Surging In The West Lately

GAME DAY pic.twitter.com/2WKlb85kW8

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 12, 2024

He could be coming back to a team that is over .500 for the first time since November 12th. The Warriors have been struggling this season to stay afloat in the West, as they have had issues up and down their roster, with both missed games and underwhelming performances from certain players.

But they have surged lately, winning 6 of their last 7 games to pull back to even with a .500 record. They have hopped from 12th place up to 10th and are currently in position to be the final Play-In team, and have two of their next three games are coming against a team with a very similar record in the Jazz.

The Warriors will look to extend their three-game road winning stream tonight in Utah, and the oddsmakers like their chances of doing so. Golden State is currently listed as a 2.5 point favorite for the contest.