Jazz coach pays respects to Golden State assistant coach Dejan Milojevic in pre-game tribute – KSL.com

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SALT LAKE CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder saw the shock firsthand Wednesday night.

The NBA world was shaken by the sudden death of Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, who died Wednesday in Salt Lake City after suffering a heart attack at a team dinner Tuesday night.

When the Thunder arrived at the team hotel Wednesday night in preparation to face the Utah Jazz, the Warriors were there — still just beginning to process what had happened.

“They were in the hotel last night and saw some of their staff clearly shocked and grieving,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said.

Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy opened up his pre-game press conference Thursday with a tribute to the late coach. Milojevic was one of Hardy’s assistant coaches when Hardy coached the Spurs Summer League team in 2017.

“I want to start by offering my condolences to Dejan’s family and the entire Warriors organization,” Hardy said. “What they’re going through is unimaginable, and our thoughts and prayers and support are fully behind all of them as they begin mourning a truly wonderful man.”

Hardy said he appreciated how Milojevic, who, even at that point, was a decorated international player and coach, treated him as a young and “scattered” coach trying to figure out how to lead a team.

“He is as advertised. One of the most joyous, happy, positive people I’ve ever been around in my life,” Hardy said. “I never had the pleasure of working with him through a season, but I’ve kept in touch with him very much over the years.”

Wednesday’s tragic news also brought with it some perspective for the Jazz. One moment they were preparing for a game, and the next that suddenly didn’t seem very important.

“When it’s like practice, game, travel, game, game, practice, travel, game, travel,” said Kelly Olynyk of the season’s monotony, “you can kind of get numb to the outside world a little bit. You’re so busy all the time, and dialed in and focused on doing your job, and when something like that comes up and it’s linked so close to where you are, it takes you back and makes you realize how much more there is than the game.

“Obviously, you want to be the best you can be but it really makes you appreciate family and friends more.”

Olynyk said the Jazz weren’t aware of what happened at the Golden State team dinner Tuesday, so the news of the game’s postponement came “out of the blue.”

“When you hear something like that you never, never want to be on the receiving end of that news,” Olynyk said. “We feel deeply for the organization, the family and friends, everybody that he’s impacted. This is one of those things where it just makes you stop and take a breath and a second and realize how blessed you are.”

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