Warriors Assistant Dejan Milojević Dies at Age 46

Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević has died at the age of 46.

"We are absolutely devastated by Dejan's sudden passing," head coach Steve Kerr said. "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."

The Warriors announced Tuesday that Milojević had been hospitalized due to a "medical emergency" during a team dinner. The NBA confirmed Wednesday's game between the Warriors and Utah Jazz was postponed as a result.

Milojević had a 15-year playing career in Europe that included three straight ABA League MVP Awards. At the international level, he helped then-Yugoslavia win the 2001 men's EuroBasket.

Milojević pivoted to coaching in 2012 and joined the Warriors staff ahead of the 2021-22 season.

In an April 2023 video, Kerr detailed how Milojević first got on his radar and lauded his contributions to the franchise. Kevon Looney added the former 6'6" forward helped him understand more of the nuances of playing around the basket:

The value of Milojević's tutelage was evident long before he arrived on an NBA bench.

ESPN's Jackie MacMullan profiled him in September 2020 and detailed both his decorated playing career along with his achievements as a coach.

Perhaps most notably, Milojević led Serbian team Mega Basket when it featured a young Nikola Jokić. Tim Connelly, who was the Denver Nuggets' head of basketball operations at the time, told MacMullan that Milojević's coaching was invaluable in Jokić's development.

"I've spent so much time in countless gyms all over the world, but Dejan quickly jumps out as completely different," he said. "He's not teaching Nikola to 'dribble, dribble, to the left shoulder.' It's 'dribble, dribble, and reach under the elbow to shoot with the left hand.' There's no cookie-cutter learning. He's teaching his guys to become unique players."

In a 2022 interview with Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports, Milojević said he had no idea Jokić would grow to be an MVP winner in the NBA, but he foresaw the star center successfully making the jump to the Association.

"I was telling everybody, and not many people from the NBA listened to me. Mega back then was not a club that was producing a lot of NBA players. People were doubtful. Can he play or not? They were looking at him more as a 4 than a 5. I saw that he was a 5 for many reasons and I explained to everyone who would listen that he was a 5. But I didn't predict this."

With Wednesday's game postponed, the Warriors are slated to be back on the court Friday at home to the Dallas Mavericks. It's unclear if that game will be rescheduled as well.