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The Golden State Warriors will wear ‘DM’ patches on their jerseys for the rest of the NBA season as a tribute to coach Dejan Milojevic, who tragically died last week.
The Serbian ᴀssistant coach suffered a heart attack while dining in Salt Lake City with his fellow Warriors coaches and some players before the game against the Jazz.
The incident occurred at Valter’s Osteria, a popular Italian eatery frequented by NBA teams, and the Warriors had two games postponed in the days after the incident.
Milojevic, 46, was part of the coaching staff that helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA championship.
As a tribute, Steve Kerr’s team will also have ‘DM’ painted on the court for all remaining home games at the Chase Center.
The Warriors will have Dejan Milojevic’s initials on their jerseys and court for rest of the season
Their jerseys will have ‘DM’ in a heart shape for the rest of the season in tribute to their coach
‘It’s hard to describe the week – heartbreaking, devastating,’ Kerr told reporters on Monday as he wore a shirt which read ‘BROTHER’ in Serbian. ‘It’s just the saddest thing I’ve ever been a part of in the NBA.
‘Where we lose someone who’s so close to us and then more importantly, seeing his family suffer. So this last week has been… full of all of the above. The shock, the emotion, the extreme outpouring of love from all over the world.
‘He was just a guy who constantly saw the good in people and the joy in life… when you’re coming into a season that goes from seven to nine months, that’s exactly the kind of person I wanna be with every day,’ Kerr later added of Milojevic.
‘We got a better sense of just what Deki meant to his countrymen,’ Kerr said.
Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic, who is also Serbian, dedicated his team’s win last Wednesday to his late friend.
And reigning NBA champion Nikola Jokic also paid tribute to Milojevic, posting a picture of himself with the coach, writing: ‘Deki, rest in peace! Condolences to the family!’
Kerr, who lost his own father when he was 18 years old, said he understood what Milojevic’s children, Nikola and Masa, were going through.
The Serbian ᴀssistant coach suffered a heart attack in Salt Lake City while dining with coaches
‘It’s kind of crazy but Friday was the 40th anniversary of my dad’s death,’ he told reporters.
Kerr added that ‘Deki had an amazing way of being very direct and honest without threatening anyone. Sometimes those coaches meetings can get contentious… he always just had a gleam in his eye and a laugh even when he was challenging us – especially when he was challenging the rest of the group.’
Warriors big man Kevon Looney also said, ‘His English wasn’t always the best so he didn’t know how to sugarcoat anything. Anytime I wasn’t being aggressive, I wasn’t rebounding or boxing out — it’s a cuss word, but he said “Don’t be soft.”
‘I would always tell him, “You’re the only person I let talk to me like that”.’
Kerr also thanked NBA commissioner Adam Silver for postponing two of the Warriors’ games last week following Milojevic’s death.
‘There’s no way any of us could have walked out onto a court and played a basketball game,’ he said.
The Warriors’ next game is vs. the Hawks on Wednesday.
