Golden State Warriors assistant assistant coach Dejan Milojević died after suffering a heart attack, the team announced on Wednesday. He was 46 years old.
Milojevic died one day after suffering a medical emergency during a private team dinner in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, prompting the NBA to postpone Wendesday’s matchup between the Warriors and Utah Jazz.
‘We are absolutely devastated by Dejan Milojević’s sudden passing,’ the Warriors wrote in a social media tribute. ‘This is a shocking and tragic blow for everyone associated with the Warriors and an incredibly difficult time for his family, friends, and all of us who had the incredible pleasure to work with him. We grieve with and for his wife, Natasa, and their children, Nikola and Masa.’
Here’s everything to know about Milojević:
Where is Dejan Milojević from?
Dejan (DAY-hahn) Milojević (mi-lo-yo-vihch) was born in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 15, 1977. Milojević participated in boxing and karate as a child before he started playing basketball for Serbian club KK Tašmajdan at age 13, ‘which is late by some of today’s standards,’ he recalled in 2018.
Milojević started getting recognition for his skills on the basketball court as a teen and was even nicknamed the ‘Serbian Charles Barkley’ after he dropped 141 points in his 16U team’s win when he was just 14: ‘I scored 58 points at halftime and then (coach) Miša (Lakić) said, ‘Let’s see how many you can score’. In the second half, all the balls went to me… They really forced me in the second part and we broke the record.’
Milojević said he was dubbed the ‘Serbian Charles Barkley’ because they were ‘similar in height’ and they both played the same position.
Dejan Milojevic was a star in Europe
At 6-foot-7, 250-pounds, Milojević had a 14-year playing career overseas before retiring in 2009. During his career, he played for several clubs, including Budućnost, where he was named ABA League MVP (2003–04), and Partizan, where he won two more MVP honors and led the league in scoring (2004-2006).
He had a bruising style and showcased his skills in the Euroleague, featuring Europe’s top teams, and was named All-Europe second team in 2004. In 2005 for Partizan Belgrade, Milojevic averaged 22.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists and shot 57.6% from the field.
‘I love basketball, as I am, as I will continue to do so,’ Milojević said in 2018 during an interview with Serbian news outlet RTVBN. ‘I have always loved to play, and I see basketball as a game, and throughout my career I gave my best at every moment, and things happened around me. I was never chasing MVP or anything, I just wanted to play the best I could. And what was it enough for, sometimes more, sometimes less.’
He became an important part of the country’s national basketball team, representing Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro. He helped Serbia and Montenegro to a gold medal at the 2001 Eurobasket tournament, one of the most competitive basketball events in the world. He retired from his playing career in 2009.
Dejan Milojević coached NBA MVP Nikola Jokic
After his playing career ended, Milojević said he ‘didn’t know that one day I would become a coach.’ He started his head coaching career at Mega Basket (2012-2020), where he coached NBA star Nikola Jokić, from just a teen and not on anyone’s radar to become a two-time NBA MVP.
“I’m not sure he believed in himself from the very beginning,” Milojevic said on The Basketball Podcast. On Jokic, he said: “The hardest thing is to play simple. And even now if you talk about Nikola [Jokic] . . he’s doing so many great things, but the majority, like 80% of the things that he’s doing, are fundamentals, and then he can build up on that.”
Milojevic was instrumental in Jokic’s development and helped Jokic see the game from a different perspective – he could be a passer, shooter and scorer, and not limited offensively.
“For me, playing a set and running a set, all the players should know what the goal is and what is the point of the set,” Milojevic added. “So, you should know movement for any position on the court. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing big, you should know what your point guard is doing. So, in the practices, I was mixing players at each position.”
Where else did Dejan Milojević coach?
Milojević joined the Warriors’ coaching staff in 2021. He had prior NBA coaching experience on the summer league staff of the Atlanta Hawks (2016), San Antonio Spurs (2017) and Houston Rockets (2018).
‘The NBA mourns the sudden passing of Golden State assistant coach Dejan Milojević, a beloved colleague and dear friend to so many in the global basketball community,’ NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. ‘In addition to winning the 2022 NBA championship in his first season with the Warriors and mentoring some of the best players in the world, Dejan had a decorated international playing career and was a distinguished head coach in his native Serbia.’