By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic passed away at 46 years of age Wednesday (17/1), as reported by multiple Serbian websites and confirmed by Eurohoops. The Serbian coach and former decorated player had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack Tuesday (16/1) during team dinner in Salt Lake City.
The Warriors later confirmed Milojevic’s death. “We are absolutely devastated by Dejan’s sudden passing,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said per the team. “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.”
Milojevic was an assistant coach at the Warriors since 2021 and was crowned NBA champion in his first season with the team. After playing professionally for 22 years, he began his coaching career in his native Serbia with Mega Basket where he mentored Nikola Jokic from 2012 to 2015. He then briefly coached Montenegrin club Buducnost before making the jump to the NBA with Golden State.
A forward as a player, Milojevic had stints with such teams as Partizan Belgrade, Galatasaray, Valencia and Buducnost. With Partizan, he won the ABA League championship titles of 2004, 2005, 2006 while claiming season MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2005 and 2006.
On an international level, Milojevic won gold medal in the 2001 EuroBasket with the Serbia and Montenegro national team.
Several clubs and organizations have expressed their condolences for Milojevic’s death, including his former teams Partizan, Valencia, Galatasaray, Mega Basket. “Even the greatest fighters sometimes leave,” wrote Partizan.
“With great pain and sadness, the Basketball Federation of Serbia received the news that our Dejan Milojević left us too soon,” the Serbian Basketball Federation mentioned.
Photo: Noah Graham via Getty Images