Celtics head coach Ime Udoka could be suspended from the team for the entirety of the 2022/23 NBA season, but he does not intend to step down from his post, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
An official decision on the duration of his suspension has yet to be announced. Sources informed Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link) earlier that Udoka had considered the possibility of resigning.
Udoka, who is engaged, is being penalized for a consensual affair he conducted with a female Boston staffer. The team is set to make a formal determination on the timeline for the second-year head coach’s punishment later today.
After a 12-year playing career in pro basketball, Udoka became a well-regarded NBA assistant. He served under Gregg Popovich with the Spurs, Brett Brown with the Sixers, and Steve Nash with the Nets before getting his first stint as a head coach with Boston.
During his first season as the Celtics’ head coach, Udoka led Boston to a 51-31 record and its first appearance in an NBA Finals since 2010. The Celtics fell to the Warriors in six games.
With Udoka anticipated to miss potentially the entire 2022/23 season, assistant coach Joe Mazzulla is set to assume the mantle of interim head coach for the immediate future.
He’s engaged, not married
Still?
Not anymore
Engaged since 2015… that’s gotta be considered common-law at least.
Since 2015?? That says more
Doesn’t matter either way tbh. Nature will always take precedence over trivial, man made laws
Exactly he’s engaged not married. He’s been engaged to Nia Long since 2015. She don’t want to get married.
I really like Ime Udoka and think he should keep his position. Because if he don’t he won’t get another one.
Ime Udoka did nothing wrong except be human, he should face zero suspension and we should all move on
If anything, the Celtics need to revise their guidelines.
@Scissor
Absolutely not. THIS may have been consensual but 2 months from now, if things went south, it could’ve turned into something completely worse. These rules are set up for the corporate bump fuzzies that COULD end badly and the repercussions and lawsuits that the company is exposed to. How hard is it not to stick your pen in the company ink well. It’s not a moral issue. He wouldn’t be in trouble with the team if he had sex with a non-employee of the Celtics. Not hard to understand.
You obviously have never worked for a corporation. It’s a big deal in that kind of area
Did his contract say that?
Never worked for a corporation before?
@parx, he’s not being suspended for having an affair, he’s being suspended for breaking team rules and putting his employers in huge liability risk.
There’s a reason why management is not allowed to date employees without proper disclosure. In some cases it’s not allowed at all.
He was banging someone wife who could be on the bord of directors for the Celtics
What is the best game7 performance in nba history? I’m going KG vs Sacramento in 04
Scott Foster vs Chris Paul (or anyone)
Gotta be TJ McConnell vs the Shanghai Sharks during the 1775 playoffs. Ultimately Devin Booker and the boston celtics won the chip that year but it was a legendary 150 point 70 assist 30 rebound 10 steal 10 block performance by TJ. Easily made him a top five player of all time. So lucky I got to see it live!
Wasn’t Benjamin Franklin sitting court side that game?
this punishment doesnt seem like it fits the crime. my guess is that it had to be someone important in the organization or somebodies wife. my issue with all of it is that this mans life is plastered all over tv and the internet and who he had said consensual affair with gets the stay in the background. now thats not to say that she should be outted either. i agree w. stephen a that this shoulda been an organizational matter. they put him out to the fire and thats not right to go back to work for. if i was ime i would resign. he wont be missing any opportunities in the coaching ranks.
Word is Ime was caught banging it with the Red Sox mascot across the street and that is a no-no.
Wally? Say it aint so.
I agree, Chief. If it’s two consenting adults, just let’em do what they want. It’s nobody’s business but their own.
If Boston really feels it’s that big of a deal, let one of them resign. I know if I’m Udoka, I’m not going the extra mile for a franchise that put my personal business on blast after my suspension.
Unless this affair is taking place in the middle of Boston Garden, on the Leprechaun… I just don’t see where this is a team matter.
Uhh, the part where the team would get sued up the you-know-what? Regardless of whether or not you agree, that is the reality of things.
As soon as doubt is introduced, it creates all sorts of problems. Even if Udoka wouldn’t leverage his power for her gain (or loss), it is hard to definitively prove that. And the end result would be constant questioning of both parties.
Also, how do you try to hold players accountable when they would see their supposed leader flaunting clear organizational policy? If my head coach can break the rules with impunity, why should I obey them?
@Appalachian: “If it’s two consenting adults, just let’em do what they want.”
That’s not the issue. No one cares what two consenting adults do. What the Celtics do care about is breaking explicit company rules. The rules are in place to protect the team from lawsuits and Udoka broke them. Money, as in the potential money loss from a lawsuit, is the bottom line as always.
Rumors are it was more than one affair and that he’d been told before to stop. It’s also rumored that one of women was the wife of a senior Vice President. I don’t care who it was with but if he was warned and continued to be unprofessional than I feel that a suspension is warranted.
It would make some sense if it was the SO of a higher up given how the PR from Boston is on this so far
Bottom line… he’s gone. Won’t coach another game for the Celtics.
Unfortunately, he’s probably done coaching in tge nba, period, with this. If you’re an owner or GM with a hot wife, gf, daughter… are you hiring him now?
He’ll probably have to be a scout, at best, to continue in the league.
He’s not gone. They suspended him because they want him back. Otherwise they would have fired him.
I partly agree in spirit, but let’s be real: in this day and age, the moment they decided to suspend him for a significant length of time, word was going to get out eventually regarding the type of offense. Every single organization in sports would have operated the same way as the Celtics if they had arrived at a similar decision. There’s just no avoiding it. You risk pissing off your fanbase by choosing to appear secretive, and for what? So the word would get out anyway?
Plus, as much as this is a personal matter, paying fans have a right to know what organizational policy was broken to warrant such a suspension. This isn’t akin to someone taking a leave of absence for a family matter.
Now, if the punishment were much lighter maybe they could have gotten away with keeping it off the record. But not a full-year suspension.
It’s a big deal whether you like it or not in corporate America.
What Alex Cora did was much worse.
What about Robert craft?
Phil Jackson was dating Lakers owner Jeannie Buss.
I miss Murray Cook
Big brother in the bedroom is where the line is crossed in my opinion. Consensual seals the deal . Where do the Boston celtics or any entity in position of power play moral god ,Outrageous. Adult choices punished by billionaires? I’m vomiting.
“big brother in the bedroom” – I like that one.
Once again, to all the morons focusing on consent. How would you feel if one of your coworkers was getting favorite treatment because they were shagging your boss? That is the point here, consent doesn’t mean two damns
I would get angry about the preferential treatment, not two consenting adults being in a relationship.
Not all workplaces have no fraternization policies. Strange the Celtics didn’t just sweep it under the rug seeing how far he took them.
Most big time corporations like the Celtics do have these standards when it comes to power differential
Everybody’s arguing over this and that. It was probably in his contract. Conduct agreement Amendment. He signed it, he violated it, he gets suspended. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Yep, cut and try. Debating the length of the suspension is one thing as would be the moral considerations, but there is little room for debate as to whether he deserved to be punished. It would be the same for any job no matter how dumb the rules may be there.
It’s hilarious to me how everyone is arguing about this issue when not one person here has any idea what actually happened.
Isn’t that how everything goes these days? React immediately, react strongly, refuse to change your initial opinion with potential new information. Rinse and repeat.
GW
It’s in every contract for anyone that works in any capacity for an nba team, from the guy in the security booth at the gate at the practice facility, to the owner of the franchise, and everyone in between.
It gets abused a lil bit (well, a lotta bit) – especially with players and dance te….
Ahhh, nevermind.
Somebody will say, “We get it… you played.” hahaha
*but really, I thought everyone on this site played (???)
I wouldn’t say all but I would say most. From pick up ball all the way to the top I think most of us have played. That’s what makes it so fun. It’s the game we can keep playing our entire adult life.
Myself I’m a scrub. One year of junior college hoops and I was the 12th man on a 12-man team lol. But I really enjoyed it. Played ball every day in practice what’s more fun than that?
I’m pretty they didn’t sign a “Love Contract” like Michael and Jan had to in The Office. That’s a big no no