A year since Deki: Warriors still feel late assistant coach’s loss

For almost three years, Kevon Looney and a rotating cast of Warriors big men would take up the back left basket for practice with Dejan Milojevic.

Milojevic, the assistant coach specializing in frontcourt development, showed up to work every day with a smile. He’d run the bigs through skill drills and one-on-one games. He’d crack jokes but also know when to push the players.

Milojevic died 365 days ago, leaving a 6-foot-7 hole in the organization. Looney can’t believe it has already been one year since his sudden death after a heart attack at a team dinner in Salt Lake City.

“It’s tough to think about,” Looney said. “Still tough. Even going back to Utah or seeing a ‘brate’ shirt. You want to keep the memory alive, but sometimes it’s just tough. Even going into practice, I don’t like shooting on that court anymore. Because that was our court. It’s small things like that.”

After Milojevic’s death, the Warriors honored their late coach by wearing warmup shirts with “brate” — Serbian for “brother” — at practice and before games. They added “DM” patches to their uniforms. His friend, Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic, started a game with a scripted play Milojevic taught him as a tribute. Players around the league, Eastern European and otherwise, mourned.

Milojevic was known both for his coaching acumen and his unrelenting positivity, and the team is now awarding an annual honor in his name to the basketball operations staffer who exhibits his “spirit, dedication and legacy.”

Not a day goes by without Ron Adams thinking about Milojevic, and he’s not alone within the organization.

Adams, the longtime assistant coach around the NBA, bonded with Milojevic over their mutual intellectual curiosity about life. Adams, a Renaissance man, admired how even though Milojevic wasn’t formally educated, he used his podcast to interview some of the brightest minds in his home nation of Serbia. In just three years on the Warriors’ bench, Milojevic became one of Adams’ best friends.

Adams was at dinner with Milojevic in Utah a year ago, Jan. 17, when he suddenly died at 46 years old.

“I don’t think you move mentally forward,” Adams told this news organization. “That’s in your heart. To me, that’s like it was yesterday. You just kind of manage, that’s all you can do.”

As a player, Milojevic — known by friends as “Deki” — dominated the Adriatic Basketball Association, winning three league MVPs, three championships and two scoring titles. Before injuries cut his career short, he was one of the best big men in Europe, earning the nickname “Serbian Charles Barkley.”

Milojevic turned to coaching in 2012 for Mega Basket in Belgrade. Before his arrival, the program only sent one player to the NBA. In his eight years with the team, 11 players got drafted.

Nikola Jokic, who has since become the best player in the world, was one of Milojevic’s first students.

“I love him,” Jokic said shortly after the tragic news last year. “My whole family was shocked…I love his whole family.”

Milojevic joined the Warriors in 2021 to help tutor James Wiseman, the raw second overall pick, and other Warriors bigs. Looney credits Milojevic with his breakout performance in the 2022 title run, when Looney helped close out the Grizzlies in the second round with a 22-rebound game and then hauled in double-digit boards in three of five Western Conference Finals games.

Milojevic would challenge Looney to get better with every shot, rebound, practice, game and year. If Looney grabbed eight rebounds, Milojevic asked him why he didn’t get 10. If he had 10 boards, Milojevic wondered why it wasn’t 15.

“Having that relationship kind of pushed me to be more aggressive and even more hungry,” Looney said.

Trayce Jackson-Davis only got to know Milojevic for a few months as a rookie, but quickly recognized how much he loved being around the players — and how the feeling was mutual. The coach would crack jokes and it was clear he loved his job, Jackson-Davis said.

“Just a bright spirit, just an all-around beautiful human being,” Jackson-Davis said.

Jackson-Davis likened Milojevic’s death to losing a family member. He said he thinks the team is still trying to get over the tragedy.

Adams recalled the dinner where Milojevic had his cardiac episode. Paramedics transported him to a local hospital and tried to save his life.

“It was scary,” Adams said. “I’d say that I feel privileged to be with him at the end, at that table. Terrible night.”

Head coach Steve Kerr, general manager Mike Dunleavy, head trainer Rick Celebrini, assistant coach Chris Demarco, Adams and team consultant Zaza Pachulia flew to Serbia for Milojevic’s funeral.

The jersey patches are gone, and Deki’s smile hasn’t lit up the practice gym for a year. But his memory remains.

“‘Like, damn, what would Deki say in a moment like this?’” Looney said. “Sometimes I get emotional about it, but you just got to keep moving on. Try to honor him the best you can, which is being the best I can be on the court, being a good leader off the court, and spreading the love of the game across the world.”