Steve Kerr attends funeral of Warriors assistant Dejan Milojević in Serbia،
BELGRADE, Serbia — Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević, mentor to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, was buried Monday in his native Serbia after suffering a heart attack last month.
Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral on a rainy day at a Belgrade cemetery, including Warriors coach Steve Kerr, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., basketball operations consultant Zaza Pachulia and coach Rick Celebrini.
A coffin draped in flowers was carried by Milojević's former Serbian teammates.
Milojević died on January 17 in Salt Lake City, where he was hospitalized after a medical emergency during a private team dinner. Milojević, who was part of the staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship, was 46 years old.
Milojević's death sparked a huge outpouring of sympathy from the basketball community and fans in his native country, where he was a star player for Partizan Belgrade and other clubs in Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey and Spain before turning to the coach.
Predrag Danilović, president of the Serbian Basketball Federation, said that no one respected and liked Milojević.
“A great basketball player, a great coach has left us, and above all a great man, a man without the slightest stain. I had the honor and the pleasure of being friends with him even if we did not play together ” Danilovic said during an official ceremony. commemoration of Milojević on Saturday.
Marko Kešelj, from the Serbian Sports Ministry and a former basketball player, said the sport was Milojević's life.
“With his positive energy, he brought out the best in us,” Kešelj said. “He motivated us to be better in every way, as people and as players. Deki was a friend, a mentor, he was a leader.”
Milojević was in his third season with the Warriors. He previously coached in Serbia – where he worked with a young Jokic before the current Denver Nuggets star came to the United States – as well as Montenegro, and was an assistant coach for the Serbian national team in the alongside current Hawks assistant Igor Kokoškov.
Milojević worked closely with Jokic, Clippers center Ivica Zubac, Magic center Goga Bitadze and Rockets center Boban Marjanovic, among others, during his coaching tenure in Europe.
Milojević won three consecutive MVP awards in the Adriatic League, which includes teams from the former Yugoslavia, winning those trophies in 2004, 2005 and 2006, when the 6-foot-7, 240-pound power forward was at the top of his playing career. Jokic was MVP of this league in 2015.
Before joining the Warriors, Milojević had experience in the NBA through summer league assistant coaching positions in Atlanta, San Antonio and Houston.
Kerr and the other Warriors representative will not return in time for Monday's game against the Utah Jazz.
Milojević is survived by his wife, Nataša, and their children, Nikola and Maša.
ESPN's Kendra Andrews contributed to this report.
