Ime Udoka Courtesy Boston Celtics/YouTube
It was a shocking exit. Ime UdokaAfter news broke of an alleged affair with another player of the NBA, the Boston Celtics’ head basketball coach was suspended by the NBA.
“The Boston Celtics announced today that the team has suspended Head Coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies,” an official press release for the Boston Celtics read on Thursday, September 22, per USA Today, noting that “A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date” and that “the suspension takes effect immediately.”
Udoka issued a statement after the news. “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down,” he said. “I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team’s decision. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will have no further comment.”
The former assistant coach of the Brooklyn Nets — who has been in a relationship with fiancée Nia Long since 2010 — purportedly had an “intimate and consensual relationship with a female member” of the NBA, according to an Athletic report published on Thursday, September 22. The alleged affair is not only seen as “improper” by the franchise, but is a violation of its code of conduct.
News of Udoka’s suspension comes less than one day after ESPN reporter Adrian WojnarowskiThe Celtics coach could be suspended during the entire 2022- 2023 season, according to reports.
The former San Antonio Spurs player got engaged to Long, 51, in 2015 — four years after they welcomed 10-year-old son Kez in 2011. Udoka was also a stepfather figure to the Bel-Air: The Fresh Prince alum’s 21-year-old son Massai, whom she shares with ex Massai Z. Dorsey.
Long, for her part took to her Instagram Story hours after the fact to share a video with an obscure message.
“When you see people change their whole life, and start walking down a path of enlightenment — I’m talking about hugging trees, connecting with nature, loving themselves, embracing positivity, letting that light shine,” read the caption of the clip, which depicted a peaceful scene in nature.
In May, four months before the news about Udoka’s alleged tryst broke, Long publicly praised her partner after he led his team to the playoffs.
“Speechless … patience and purpose,” she wrote via Instagram at the time, adding, “#imeudoka #blessedandgrateful.”
The earlier this month,Best Man star shared a sweet photo of her and Udoka’s son headed off to his first day of fifth grade.
“There he is…my yummy baby boy! 🥰,” Long captioned the Instagram upload, which featured Kez grinning while holding up a homemade sign about the new school year.
Though the athlete proposed to the New York native in 2015, Long revealed on Essence’s “Yes, Girl!” Podcast in 2020 that she’s not in any rush to walk down the aisle — and got candid about her reasons for waiting.
“Love is complicated, let’s just start there,” she said at the time. “And then you start a marriage, which I’ve never been married. And there’s a reason for that, because I don’t know that I need to say, ‘I do’ to prove to you that I love you. … I don’t know that I need that to feel like I’m in a partnership that’s working.”
