Coming off of a run to the NBA Finals last season, the Boston Celtics were poised to make another strong push for the title during the 2022-23 campaign with second-year head coach Ime Udoka leading the way. That will not happen, however, as the team made its anticipated announcement that Udoka will receive a season-long suspension due to an alleged affair with a female staffer, which violates team guidelines. Beyond the suspension, the team announced “a decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date.”
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 23, 2022
Udoka responded to the decision with a statement.
NEW: Statement from Celtics coach Ime Udoka pic.twitter.com/MFutFx7c3l
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) September 23, 2022
It has been reported that Udoka is not going to resign as Celtics coach. Joe Mazzulla, who has been with the team as an assistant since 2019, will take over per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, and faces the tough challenge of navigating the fallout from the suspension while coaching a team that expects to return to the Finals while incorporating their new guard Malcolm Brogdon into the rotation.
While this is an internal issue and not something that falls under the jurisdiction of the league, we have seen a punishment for this sort of thing recently, as former Minnesota Timberwolves GM Gersson Rosas was fired for having an extramarital affair with a female staffer in Sept. 2021.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/celtics-announce-season-long-suspension-ime-udoka/
