Golden State Warriors vow to uphold ‘Deki’ Milojevic’s legacy

KEVON LOONEY CALLS this is the “big hoop”.

Located on the other side of the Golden State Warriors practice facility, the hoop faces the weight room. Looney had never worked there before, but when Dejan Milojević joined the team as an assistant coach in 2021, it became their place.

Under Milojević's mentorship, Looney enjoyed the best bounce-back seasons of his career. The forward went from averaging four rebounds per game during his first six seasons in the league to 7.3 rebounds during the 2021-22 season, when the Warriors won their last NBA championship. Last season, Looney averaged a career-high 9.3 rebounds.

But Looney and the Warriors have heavy hearts. It's been less than a month since Milojević died on Jan. 17 after suffering a heart attack at a private team dinner the day before Golden State's scheduled away game against the Utah Jazz.

“[He taught me] a different mentality,” Looney said after Milojević's death. “Not just being average, but being elite, being great at something. I spent the best two years of my career playing under his guidance and receiving his guidance.”

The team will be without coach Steve Kerr for Monday's game, who, along with several assistants and front office staff, will attend Milojević's memorial ceremony in his native Serbia.

Milojević's death at the age of 46 was a shock to the team and the basketball world. Affectionately known as “Deki” and a former star player and successful coach in Serbia, Milojević was in his third season with the Warriors team. He was known for mentoring players such as Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic and NBA centers Ivica Zubac, Goga Bitadze and Boban Marjanovic.

For Warriors forward Dario Saric, the chance to play under Milojević was part of the reason he joined the Warriors as a free agent last summer. Saric had known Milojević long before arriving at Golden State; both were former Adriatic League MVPs.

Training together in every practice and warming up before games, Saric quickly developed a bond with his coach.

“Those feelings, you have to be professional…go through them and try to adapt to the new situation,” Saric told ESPN about returning to Salt Lake City, “but obviously [Milojević] is somewhere in my mind.”

Looney and Saric pledged to maintain Milojević's practices and emphasized the message to Warriors assistants.

“We always talk about the bigs as a group on this team,” Looney told ESPN. “We're just trying to bond together and continue our workouts — all the footwork, the smiles, the talking shit.”

Looney and Saric reacted to Milojević's death by telling other aides to stick to his most important lessons: Don't sugarcoat messages. Call them when they deserve it. Hold them accountable for everything, big and small.

But after Milojević's death, Looney also felt it was time to move out of the “big leagues.”

“It was weird being there, acting like it was the same,” Looney said. “I wanted a change of pace…I couldn’t pretend it was the same.”

THE WARRIORS WILL BE never forget the events of the night they lost Deki.

On January 16, the team gathered for dinner at Valter's Osteria restaurant in Salt Lake City, one of the Warriors' favorite places. Milojević sat at a table with two fellow assistants – Chris DeMarco and Ron Adams – as well as Saric.

It was there that Milojević suffered a heart attack. He was hospitalized that night and died the next day.

After Milojević's death, the January 17 game against the Jazz was postponed, as was the Warriors' next game at home on January 19 against the Dallas Mavericks.

The team regrouped at its training center on January 22, where they met Milojević's family, including Milojević's daughter Masa; addressed the team; and Milojevic's son Nikola spent time with Warriors guard Klay Thompson shooting and rebounding.

“Just to be able to tell him how much I loved his dad, all the good memories we built and created together, I just told him how grateful I am for his family and how proud I am of them. [Milojević] “Thompson told ESPN.

When the Warriors returned to action on Jan. 24 at home against the Atlanta Hawks, players from both teams stood on the sidelines of the Chase Center court in matching jerseys that read “Brate,” which means “brother” in Serbian. The Serbian national anthem was played, along with a tribute video, and special jerseys were placed on Milojević's vacant chair.

Since the tragedy, Saric and members of the coaching staff have been in regular contact with Milojević's widow, Natasha.

“I lost a very good friend. I lost a coach who was really there for me, who knows what to say to me at the right time, who knows my culture, who really knows what's going on in my head,” he said. Saric said. “I miss him a lot, from a friend's point of view, and for basketball, he was a very good mentor.

“Perhaps the best mentor I ever had.”

AFTER SATURDAY’S EXCITING A 113-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns, capped by Stephen Curry's last-second three-pointer, the Warriors began their two separate trips to honor Milojević before Monday's game in Utah.

Kerr — along with DeMarco, Adams, team advisor Zaza Pachulia, general manager Mike Dunleavy and director of team medicine Rick Celebrini — left for the Serbian capital of Belgrade on Sunday for Milojević's memorial service. Assistant coach Kenny Atkinson stayed behind to serve as Utah's interim coach.

“This journey is going to be difficult,” Kerr told ESPN. “Somehow it still isn’t real.”

Kerr and members of the staff will return Wednesday for the Warriors' home game against the LA Clippers. The Warriors return to Utah again on Thursday to make up the originally postponed game.

The Warriors are slowly turning their attention back to basketball after last month's tragedy — something that Kerr said remains a challenge.

“Once we had the ceremony before the [Hawks] game, you just go back to the routine [of games and travel]”Kerr said. “Every once in a while, for everyone, it hits you and you stop and think, 'I can't believe this is real.' [Attending the service] it will make it much more real.

The team stays at the same Salt Lake City hotel as the previous trip, despite attempts to change. There was a room at the hotel so the players could watch the Super Bowl together, although some made their own plans to watch the game.

“It's going to be difficult to return to these [hotel] “This is going to be difficult for all of us, especially those of us who were at the dinner.”

The team has no plans to return to the restaurant. “I’ll never go back there again,” Kerr said.

Players like Thompson understand that Monday's game will be unlike any other game the Warriors have prepared for.

“I don't know how to approach this [game]”, Thompson told ESPN after the victory against Phoenix. “As a team, we've never faced anything like this.”

During the 2022 playoffs, Warriors forward Draymond Green played in a playoff game just one day after the death of his college teammate. He's set to take the same approach on Monday.

“Just try to realize that it’s going to be different,” Green told ESPN. “Your emotions are going to be different. … You try to control your emotions as best you can.”

For Looney, it will be about continuing the lessons he learned with Deki under that “big hoop.”

“I was just planning on spending time together,” Looney said. “Remember what he taught us and keep his name and legacy alive.”