ESPN Report: Sad News Cavaliers Coach Has Been Block From The Trade Line Battle Against…

The 2024 NBA trade deadline concluded on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. ET, and the weeks leading up were action packed with multiple deals, including more than a dozen deadline-day trades.

The deals began ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season when the Milwaukee Bucks acquired seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers just months after he requested a trade. That deal included a swap for two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday, but it didn’t take long for the point guard to find a new home as he was traded from the Trail Blazers to the Boston Celtics.

The James Harden-Philadelphia 76ers drama reached its conclusion at the end of October, when the 76ers traded Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev to the Clippers for Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum, KJ Martin, a 2028 unprotected first-round pick, two second-round picks, a 2029 pick swap and an additional first-round pick that will be routed from a third team.

The next big in-season trade came near the end of December, when the Toronto Raptors sent OG Anunoby and Precious Achuiwa to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and draft compensation.

The Raptors were once again involved when the Indiana Pacers acquired Pascal Siakam and a future second-round pick from Toronto. The Raptors received Bruce Brown and Jordan Nwora as well as three first-round picks.

More moves have happened since (Terry Rozier to the Miami Heat; Steven Adams to the Memphis Grizzlies; Simone Fontecchio to the Detroit Pistons), and there were plenty of deals done the day of the deadline.

We kept tabs on every trade this season, including grades from ESPN NBA Insider Kevin Pelton.

Located on the far side of the Golden State Warriors’ practice facility, the hoop faces away from the weight room. Looney never previously worked at it, but when Dejan Milojević joined the team as an assistant coach in 2021, it became their spot.

Under Milojević’s mentorship, Looney had the best rebounding seasons of his career. The forward went from averaging four rebounds per game through his first six seasons in the league to 7.3 rebounds during the 2021-22 season, when the Warriors won their most recent NBA championship. Last season, Looney averaged a career-best 9.3 rebounds.

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

“[He taught me] a different mentality,” Looney said after Milojevićs death. “Not settling for being average, but being elite, being great at something. I had the best two years of my career playing under his coaching and getting advice from him.”

The team will be without coach Steve Kerr for Monday’s game, who, along with several assistants and front office personnel, attended Milojević’s memorial service in his native Serbia.

Milojević’s death at age 46 was a shock to the team and to the basketball world. Fondly known as “Deki” and formerly a star player and successful coach in Serbia, Milojević was in his third season on the Warriors’ staff. 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 Šarić, the chance to develop under Milojević was partly why he joined the Warriors as a free agent this past summer. Saric had known Milojević long before arriving at Golden State; the two were former MVPs in the Adriatic League.

Working out together at every practice and warming up ahead of games, Saric quickly developed a bond with his position coach.

“These feelings, you need to be professional … go through it and try to adjust to the new situation,” Šarić told ESPN of being back in Salt Lake City, “but obviously [Milojević] is somewhere in my mind.”

Looney and Šarić have vowed to keep up Milojević’s practices and have stressed the message to the Warriors’ assistants.

“We always talk about the bigs as a group on this team,” Looney told ESPN. “We just try to bond together and continue our workouts — all of the footwork, the smiling, the talking s—.”

Looney and Šarić have dealt with Milojević’s death by telling the other assistants to adhere to his most important lessons: Don’t sugarcoat messages. Call them out when they deserve it. Hold them accountable on everything, big and small.

But after Milojević’s death, Looney also felt it was time to move on from the “big man hoop.”

“It felt weird being over there, acting like it’s all the same,” Looney said. “I wanted to switch it up … I couldn’t act like it was the same.”

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

On Jan. 16, the team gathered for dinner at the Valter’s Osteria restaurant in Salt Lake City, a favorite spot for the Warriors. Milojević was sitting at a table with two fellow assistants — Chris DeMarco and Ron Adams — along with Šarić.

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

After Milojević’s death, the game on Jan. 17 against the Jazz was postponed, as was the Warriors’ following game at home on Jan. 19 against the Dallas Mavericks.

The team regrouped at their practice facility on Jan. 22, where they met with Milojević’s family, including Milojević’s daughter, Masa; addressed the team; and Milojevic’s son, Nikola, spent some time with Warriors guard Klay Thompson shooting and rebounding.

“Just to be able to tell him how much I loved his dad, all the great memories we built and made together, I just told him how grateful I am for his family and how proud of them [Milojević] was,” 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 sideline of the Chase Center court with matching shirts that read “Brate,” which is Serbian for “brother.” The Serbian national anthem was played, as well as a tribute video, and special jerseys were placed on Milojević’s vacant chair.

Since the tragedy, Šarić and members of the coaching staff periodically check in with Milojević’s widow, Natasha.

“I lost a really good friend. I lost a coach who was really there for me, who knows what to tell me at the right moment, who knows my culture, who really knows what’s going on in my mind,” Šarić said. “I miss him a lot, from a friend standpoint, and for basketball, he was a really good mentor.