Assistant coach for Golden State Warriors dies following heart attack at team dinner
Dejan Milojević suffered a heart attack while at a private team dinner in Salt Lake City.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević has died after suffering a heart attack at a private team dinner in Salt Lake City Tuesday night, the team announced on Wednesday.
"We are absolutely devastated by Dejan's sudden passing," said Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr. "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. In addition to being a terrific basketball coach, Dejan was one of the most positive and beautiful human beings I have ever known."
The Warriors were in Salt Lake ahead of their Wednesday night game against the Utah Jazz. The NBA has already postponed that game.
Milojević was at dinner with multiple players and coaches Wednesday night when he was transported to a Salt Lake City area hospital, Nexstar's KTVX reports.
Despite life-saving efforts, the 46-year-old coach passed away late Wednesday morning.
"We grieve with and for his wife, Natasa, and their children, Nikola and Masa," said the Warriors in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
Milojević was in his third season as an assistant coach with the Warriors. He was a member of the team's coaching staff during the run to the 2022 NBA Championship. Milojević is from Belgrade, Serbia. He played professional baseball internationally for 14 years prior to becoming a coach.
The news of Milojević's passing was first reported by TMZ and in a tweet from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
“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.”
Milojević won three consecutive MVP awards in the Adriatic League, taking those trophies in 2004, 2005 and 2006 when the 6-foot-7, 240-pound power forward was at the peak of his playing career.
No player has more Adriatic MVPs than Milojević, and the stories of some games in his youth were legendary. Among them: how he scored 141 points as a 14-year-old in 1991, 83 of those points coming in the second half after his coach ordered he take all the shots.
“I teach all my players that basketball is not a job, but that they should enjoy the game,” Milojević told Bosnian radio-television outlet RTV in a 2018 interview. “Because if you want to do something for the next 20 years, then you have to love it a lot. It’s not easy to endure all these efforts if you don’t like something. Only those who have a sincere love for the game can handle everything with great success.”
Before joining the Warriors, Milojević had prior NBA experience through Summer League assistant-coach stints with Atlanta, San Antonio and Houston.
A date for the rescheduled game will be announced at a later date, the NBA said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.