The Golden State Warriors will return to the court Wednesday night for the first time since assistant coach Dejan Milojevic suffered a fatal heart attack at a team dinner in Salt Lake City last week.
In the wake of Milojevic’s death, the NBA postponed Golden State’s games against the Utah Jazz on Jan. 17 and the Dallas Mavericks this past Friday. Warriors Coach Steve Kerr thanked NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the Jazz and the Mavericks for allowing his team extra time to grieve and process the sudden loss of the 46-year-old Milojevic, a former Serbian star who joined Golden State in 2021 and was affectionately known as “Deki.”
The Warriors plan to formally honor Milojevic during their game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at Chase Center in San Francisco, and Kerr held an open gym Sunday and practice Monday in preparation for the emotional night. Golden State also printed black T-shirts emblazoned with the word “Brate” — the Serbian word for “brother,” which Milojevic used to address his coaching colleagues.
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“It’s heartbreaking, devastating,” Kerr said Monday. “It’s just the saddest thing I’ve ever been a part of in the NBA. We lose someone who is so close to us. More importantly, seeing his family suffer. This last five days has been filled with the shock, the emotion, the extreme outpouring of love from around the world.”
Kerr said he, several members of his coaching staff, trainer Rick Celebrini and roughly five players were together at dinner Jan. 16 when Milojevic suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. The Warriors announced the next day that Milojevic had died.
Denver Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said Kerr contacted him from the hospital to inform him of Milojevic’s death because Milojevic had coached Nuggets star Nikola Jokic in Serbia.
“[Kerr] let me know how much Deki loved Nikola and how proud he was of him,” Malone said. “That’s what I tried to share with Nikola. I just went through this with my father. Losing somebody you care about is really hard. The most important thing for Nikola to know is that Deki did love him, and now it’s up to Nikola to carry on his legacy on and off the court.”
The Warriors gathered before Monday’s practice to view a lengthy tribute to Milojevic held in conjunction with a game between Mega Basket and Partizan Belgrade in Serbia. Milojevic, a burly 6-foot-7 forward, spent several years playing for Partizan before coaching Mega Basket from 2012 to 2020. He is survived by his wife, Natasa, and two children, Nikola and Masa.
“There’s no handbook for this,” said Kerr, who expressed sympathy for Milojevic’s family, noting he had lost his own father, Malcolm, when he was 18. “You just try to be together. The guys are trying to get through it as best they can. [Milojevic] was just a guy who constantly saw the good in people and the joy in life. How could you not embrace and love that every day when you’re coming into a season that goes from seven to nine months? That’s exactly the kind of person I want to be with every day.”
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The Warriors hired Milojevic to work with their big men, and center Kevon Looney remembered Milojevic as a “positive, joyful, truthful” coach who “loved to teach.” Kerr said Milojevic “always had a gleam in his eye and a laugh,” even during contentious meetings.
“It’s a presence that’s loud even though it might not be with words,” Warriors star Stephen Curry said. “It’s a smile. It’s a hug. ... It would have been really hard to play those first three days. It definitely helped to let things settle as best you can. It was a whirlwind — a lot of emotions and a lot of sadness. It’s a huge loss, and it’s going to be a void there that we feel for a long time. Hopefully we can get lost in the game and move forward.”
Golden State (18-22) sits in 12th place in the Western Conference after enduring a tumultuous start to the season that has included multiple suspensions for Draymond Green, injuries to Chris Paul and Gary Payton II and disappointing play by Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins.
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As Kerr braced for the Warriors to “mourn, grieve and play all on the same evening,” he sought advice from longtime assistant Ron Adams on how to best navigate Wednesday’s emotions.
Adams encouraged Kerr to ask his players: “What would Deki want us to do?” Kerr only needed a moment to ponder the question: “I could literally picture Deki smiling and saying, ‘You motherf---ers need to go to win a basketball game,’ and then laughing.”
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