SALT LAKE CITY — A Golden State Warriors assistant coach died Wednesday, one day after suffering a medical emergency at a Salt Lake City restaurant ahead of a Utah Jazz game that has been postponed.
Dejan Milojević was hospitalized Tuesday following the incident at the meal in which the team was present. After being taken to a local hospital in critical condition, it was announced that Milojević had passed away.
According to The Athletic, the incident happened while the team was dining at Valter's Osteria.
Valter's put a statement on their Facebook page Wednesday night:
Our heart goes out to the Golden State Warriors and the Milojevic's. The Warriors have been a wonderful part of the Valter's family for years and we feel for their loss.
Wednesday night's game was postponed earlier in the day, with the NBA saying it will be rescheduled at an unspecified future date. The Jazz said all tickets for the game will be honored when it is rescheduled.
"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 posted to Twitter.
Shortly after the announcement of Milojević's death, the Jazz sent out a condolence message.
"The Utah Jazz organization expresses our deepest condolences following the tragic passing of Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire Warriors family during this difficult time. Milojević was a well-respected and beloved member of the NBA family," the team wrote. "We join the Warriors, the NBA, and basketball fans everywhere in mourning this incredible loss.
He will be greatly missed."
Nicole Sherman is a Jazz fan and was supposed to be at Wednesday nights game against Golden State.
"Devastating for the Warriors organization for the NBA, It's just really tragic," said Sherman.
Signs outside the Delta Center on Wednesday showed the game had been postponed.
"So unexpected sound like they were all out to dinner, I mean, that just had to have been really hard for everyone to experience," said Sherman.
Milojević was just 46 years old and leaves behind a wife and two children.
"I should make it clear that I had no role in his care in any way, so I don't know precisely the details, but I think it's always a frightening moment when we see someone who's as young as he was only 46 years old who dies suddenly from a cardiac disease," said Dr. Kirk Knowlton, Medical Director of Cardiovascular Research for Intermountain Health Heart Program.
Dr. Knowlton says they often call this sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death.
"Sometimes they can occur without any real symptoms preceding that or without any known disease, it can be in the setting of what appears to be a healthy person," said Dr. Knowlton.
Milojević was in his third season with the Warriors. The 46-year-old previously coached in Serbia — where he once worked with a young Jokic before the now-Denver star came to the United States — along with Montenegro. He had been a head coach for eight years in Europe and previously was an assistant coach for the Serbian national team alongside current Atlanta assistant Igor Koskoskov.
He worked with Jokic, Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac, Orlando center Goga Bitadze and Houston center Boban Marjanovic, among others, during his time as a coach in Europe. Kerr said he originally learned of Milojević from Kent Lacob, the son of Golden State owner Joe Lacob. And when the Warriors went through some staff changes in 2021, Kerr decided to pursue Milojević.
It took some convincing, but Milojević finally agreed to take the offer. Kerr was thrilled.
“I immediately saw what Kent was talking about,” Kerr said in a video produced by the Warriors last year. “He was so great to be around. At the same time, he had this amazing basketball background both as a player and a coach. It made so much sense for us to bring Deki in.”
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. Jokic would be MVP of that league in 2015, a year after current Golden State forward Dario Saric was MVP there.
No player has more Adriatic MVP’s 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.
Tributes began pouring in quickly after Milojević’s death was announced, including from the Spanish club Valencia, where he spent two seasons. “The Club wants to send his family a lot of encouragement and strength in these difficult times, and convey all our support to them,” read Valencia’s statement.
