Shannon and his family will remain in Newcastle until the conclusion of the Waratah League season in August and he will hopefully depart as a championship-winning Hunters coach.

"It's been fantastic to have Shannon here for two years and this association and the sport of basketball in this region is greater for his involvement," Newcastle Basketball general manager Neil Goffet said.

"We wish him and his wife Jaimee the best of luck in Townsville and we will certainly leave the door open should they ever want to return."

In his role as director of coaching, Shannon was able to assist junior club coaches, representative coaches, the Hunter Academy of Sport program, Hunter Sports High School and players of all capabilities.

"My family and I have loved our time in Newcastle and we hope to be back some time in the future but an opportunity to coach in the WNBL was something I could not turn down," Seebohm said. "I want to thank everyone in the Newcastle Basketball community for making us feel so welcome and hopefully the Newcastle Hunters can win a Waratah championship before we leave."

Newcastle Basketball president Kristi Faber said it was a blessing to have Shannon as part of the association and basketball in Newcastle was richer for the experience.

"It will be sad to see him and his family go because they are just beautiful people," Faber said.

"But we would never stand in the way of an opportunity for him to coach again in the WNBL and we wish him every success at the Fire."

AAP reports: Andrew Bogut will be part of Golden State Warriors' "next man up" policy as the two-time defending champions prepare to face the Toronto Raptors in their must-win NBA Finals game six.

Warriors superstar Kevin Durant underwent surgery on Wednesday for a ruptured achilles and the team's key back-up centre Kevon Looney is questionable for Thursday's (Friday 11am AEST) clash at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

If the Raptors, up 3-2 in the series, win they will seal the first NBA championship.

If the Warriors are victorious the title will be decided with a game seven finale on Sunday in Toronto.

Bogut, who the Warriors enticed out of the NBL in March as an insurance policy for big-man injuries during the playoffs, is poised for increased court time alongside All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins and another back-up, Jordan Bell.

Looney has been the first big man off the Warriors bench but he has been playing through a painful chest cartilage fracture and was in so much pain in game five was forced to sit out the final quarter. Emotions will be high at Oracle Arena with the Warriors vowing to win the championship for Durant, who gambled by playing game five after a calf muscle tear and suffered a ruptured achilles that will keep him out of the game for up to a year.

Adding to the emotion, the game will be the Warriors' last in Oracle Arena, with the team moving to San Francisco's new $US1.4 billion Chase Center next season.

"I expect our fans to be the loudest they have ever been, especially in the name of Kevin and bringing his type of spirit he would bring to the fight and the competitiveness," guard Klay Thompson told reporters.

If the Warriors do win the next two games they will be only the second NBA team to come back from 3-1 down to claim the championship.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers did it against the Warriors in 2016.

The Warriors remain shellshocked about Durant's injury.

"When we gathered all the information, our feeling was the worst thing that could happen would be a re-injure of the calf," coach Steve Kerr said.

"That was the advice and the information that we had."

Durant has undergone surgery as coach Kerr defended the decision to play the four-times NBA leading scorer in game five of the finals.

Durant said the surgery on Wednesday, less than 48 hours after he sustained the injury, had been successful.

The 30-year-old posted a photo on Instagram showing himself in a hospital bed and wrote: "I wanted to update you all: I did rupture my Achilles. Surgery was today and it was a success, EASY MONEY."

"My road back starts now!...

"Like I said Monday, I'm hurting deeply, but I'm OK. Basketball is my biggest love and I wanted to be out there that night because that's what I do. I wanted to help my teammates on our quest for the three peat."

Durant was referring to his long-awaited return in the NBA playoff, which lasted barely one quarter, before he suffered the injury.

The two-times NBA Finals MVP had been sidelined for more than a month and missed the first four games of the series with a calf injury, and the Warriors had been excited to have him back for a game they had to win to stay alive.

Despite losing Durant early, the Warriors won 106-105 in Toronto to extend the best-of-seven series, which the Raptors lead 3-2 ahead of game six in Oakland, California on Thursday.

Kerr defended the decision to play Durant.

"Would we go back and do it over again? Damn right, but that's easy to say after the results," Kerr said.

"Our feeling was the worst thing that could happen would be a re-injury of the calf.

"Once Kevin was cleared to play he was comfortable with that, we were comfortable with that, so the achilles came as a complete shock."

Durant, 30, will miss at least the start of next season and could be out for up to a year.

Where Durant will play when he returns is another question as he could elect to become a free agent at the end of the season.