OKC Thunder's Vasilije Micić knew Dejan Milojević as 'best person in world of basketball'
MINNEAPOLIS — Vasilije Micić and Dejan Milojević first met 14 years earlier, but this meeting was different.
It was early November, just days before they were reunited by the NBA. Thousands of miles and several countries earlier, basketball was their link. It was how Milojević found Micic. It was why Micić confided in Milojević.
The two dined and smiled and laughed. Micić in his first season with the Thunder, Milojević three years into his role on the Golden State Warriors’ bench. NBA life is a bullet train, careening so fast that time for reflection grows scarce. But they spent that night at dinner reminiscing over years of friendship. The journey. The flood of memories that made them who they are.
That was what Micić chose to remember this week.
Milojević, a beloved coach and mentor, was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack at a Warriors team dinner Tuesday in Salt Lake City. Hours later, he passed away. He was 46.
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“I can only say he was the best person in the world of basketball,” Micić told The Oklahoman. “He left a huge impact on everyone with his energy. He was extremely positive.
“He's just insane, constant positivity. It's really so unique. I don't know any person like him.”
The Warriors and Thunder both spent this past week in Salt Lake City — Golden State was set to play Utah on Wednesday and the Thunder played the Jazz on Thursday. Micić spent an emotional Wednesday with Milojević’s family. On Thursday, his voice crumbled and his head pointed toward his chest.
Micić, who’s cited internal doubt about his game since childhood, began his pro career at 16. Milojević gave him his start. Originally the general manager before becoming head coach of Serbian club KK Mega Basket, Milojević called a teenage Micić. He saw the blueprint then.
“He was very, very confident about me being pro at (the) age of 16,” Micić said. “I didn't believe honestly, I was so young. But he knew that I could compete. … And since that moment we were like a family.”
Milojević’s judgment hardly ended with Micić. His vision birthed a professional turnstile, investing in players before seasons that booked them trips to the NBA Draft. Nikola Jokić, Ivica Zubac, Timothć Luwawu-Cabarrot, Goga Bitadze, Boban Marjanović. All started under Milojevic’s tutelage.
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“His IQ was something that he shared with all of us, and he was very, very brave in terms of giving young players chances to play,” Micić said. “He was the initiator of this, let's say, famous story about giving young players opportunity at the pro level.
“He took all our young generation from Serbia together on that team.”
A 6-foot-7 power forward in his playing days, Milojević earned a reputation as a big-man whisperer. Reinventing a generation’s approach to rebounding, helping refine their frames, developing NBA dreams. Since joining the Warriors, he’d worked closely with players like Kevon Looney and James Wiseman.
But Milojević’s teachings went beyond titans. They resonated with everyone. A smile was perpetually stitched to his face, his advice was pure, and his trust came early and without doubt.
That’s the image that Micić will dearly clutch.
“There are many memories — we spent five years together,” Micić said. “But (my) first impression about him is that he smiled.
“Fourteen years later, we met in the NBA and for both of us it was (the) end of our dreams in terms of achievements. And it lasts short. It lasts short.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder's Vasilije Micić knew Dejan Milojević as 'best person'
