Boston Celtics suspend coach Ime Udoka for next NBA season after alleged affair | NBA News

The Boston Celtics have suspended head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-2023 season after she had a relationship with a team employee.

It comes after Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first season in charge, with assistant Joe Mazzulla now set to take over as interim coach.

The Celtics stated that Udoka broke team policy and that a decision on his future beyond the upcoming season will be “made at a later date”.

In a statement, Udoka said: “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization and my family for letting them down.

“I’m sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation and I accept the team’s decision. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will not comment further.”

Udoka, a longtime assistant in his first job as NBA head coach, led Boston to a 51-31 record last season — by 26-6 in the last 32 games. The Celtics beat Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami en route to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.

Udoka, 45, spent most of his NBA career with San Antonio before joining Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s staff as an assistant. Udoka was on Spurs’ staff from 2012 to 2019 and won it all in 2014, and he quickly found his way onto the shortlist for open-head coaching jobs.

He spent the 2019-20 season in Philadelphia and the 2020-21 season in Brooklyn before the Celtics hired him in June 2021 to replace Brad Stevens – who was promoted to the front office. In his freshman year, Udoka finished fourth in the Coach of the Year poll, and the Celtics were just two wins away from the championship.