The NBA announced it has postponed Wednesday night’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City after the sudden death of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević. Per a statement from the Warriors, Milojević, 46, was hospitalized in Utah after suffering a heart attack at a private team dinner Tuesday night in Utah; he died Wednesday morning despite “life-saving efforts.”
The Warriors later posted a follow-up statement announcing Milojević’s death, with head coach Steve Kerr sharing: “We are absolutely devastated by Dejan’s sudden passing. 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, someone who brought joy and light to every single day with his passion and energy. We grieve with and for his wife, Natasa, and their children, Nikola and Masa. Their loss is unfathomable.”
Milojević, a Serbian who played for 15 years in Europe, joined the Warriors’ staff in 2021. Milojević was well-regarded, famous for working with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. Milojević coached Jokic on Mega Basket from 2012-15 and has been credited with some of Jokic’s foundational basketball development. Milojević’s Mega Basket teams, which he coached from 2012 to 2020, produced 11 players selected in the NBA Draft, including Jokić, Ivica Zubac, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Vlatko Čančar and Goga Bitadze.
The league did not set a new date for the Warriors-Jazz game scheduled for Wednesday night, saying only that it would be postponed to a “later time.”
Editorial credit: Vector H / Shutterstock.com