Richard Jefferson admitted he “might have fumbled my words,” but the ESPN NBA analyst followed up his controversial comments regarding the Warriors and assistant coach Dejan Milojevic — who died last month following a heart attack — with a post on social media that defended his opinion.
When Jefferson was a junior at Arizona, head coach Lute Olson’s wife died after suffering from ovarian cancer, and the Wildcats “all took time to realize that any petty issues we had were not important,” Jefferson wrote in a post on X.
“We used the terrible moment to come together and just focus the precious moments we had together,” Jefferson added.
during the Warriors-Clippers game Wednesday. NBAE via Getty Images
That followed a sequence during the first quarter of the Warriors’ game Wednesday when Jefferson said on the ESPN broadcast that Milojevic’s death “could be something that brings this group together, something that they might have needed in that moment.”
Jefferson, who was blasted on social media following the comments, acknowledged earlier in the sequence that Milojević’s death was “devastating” before transitioning into his seemingly insensitive remarks.
Milojevic — on Steve Kerr’s staff for two-plus seasons, including the Warriors’ most recent title in 2021-22 — suffered a medical emergency during a team dinner on Jan. 16 and was hospitalized that night.
Milojevic died the following day.
He was 46.
“It’s a very emotional time for all my brother on the Warriors and the entire NBA family,” Jefferson wrote in another post on X. “I might have fumbled my words there but anyone trying to make it something else doesn’t understand our NBA family.”
After Milojevc’s death, two of the Warriors’ games were postponed, and Kerr told reporters on Jan. 22 that “it’s just the saddest thing I’ve ever been a part of in the NBA.”
Kerr wore a black shirt with “brate” — meaning brother in Serbian — during the press conference where he remembered Milojevic as someone who “saw the good in people and the joy in life.”
When the Warriors hosted their first game back, they held an emotional pregame ceremony, and a chair on the sideline was donned with one of the “brate” shirts and a rose.
“Where we lose someone who’s so close to us and then, more importantly, seeing his family suffer,” Kerr said Jan. 22. “So this last week has been, the last five days, I guess, has been full of all of the above. The shock. The emotion. The extreme outpouring of love from all over the world.”
The Warriors ended up losing the game — a 130-125 loss to the Clippers — where Jefferson made the comments, but they followed that with a win Thursday against the Jazz.
