The Boston coach is facing a potential year-long suspension for violation of organizational guidelines.
Celtics coach Ime Udoka is likely to be suspended for the entire 2022–23 season for having a consensual relationship with a woman on the organization’s basketball staff, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
ESPN was the first to report that Udoka was facing a possible suspension, while Shams Charania of The Athletic was first to report the organizational violation being due to Udoka’s relationship with a female member of the franchise.
With Udoka facing a potential suspension, sources have told Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix the Celtics coach has considered resigning from his position in the wake of breaking organizational guidelines.
A resignation by Udoka would alter the course of the organization significantly. While Joe Mazzulla, a top assistant under Udoka, is expected to be named interim coach in Udoka’s absence, there are wide-sweeping ramifications to Udoka potentially resigning and exiting the organization.
Would Boston continue with Mazzulla or would a full-scale coaching search commence? Mazzulla has never held a head-coaching job in the NBA, and has only been the head coach of Boston’s summer league team. Otherwise, Mazzulla’s only head coaching experience is at the collegiate level with Fairmont State from 2017 to ’19 before joining Boston’s bench.
Udoka was hired prior to the start of last season. Once Danny Ainge exited the organization, former head coach Brad Stevens stepped into Ainge’s vacant front office role, which led to the hiring of Udoka away from his assistant position on Brooklyn’s bench.
In his first year with the Celtics, Udoka guided Boston to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010. The Celtics lost in six games to the Warriors, but entered the 2022-’23 season as betting favorites to win the NBA title under the tutelage of Udoka and strong roster headlined by Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Al Horford.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.