Suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka may have found a new gig with a rival team.
As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday, Udoka is likely headed to Eastern Conference rival Brooklyn.
Udoka was found to have violated multiple team policies during and after his extramarital relationship with a woman in the organization, leading to a yearlong suspension.
Udoka has been in a relationship with actress Nia Long since 2010, and the two share a 10-year-old son.
The move comes only hours after the Nets announced that coach Steve Nash and the team would part ways in a “mutual decision,” Wojnarowski reported.
The decision to replace Nash, who led the star-filled team to a 2-5 start this season, with Udoka likely shocked many, as his suspension came just months after he took the Celtics to the NBA Finals.
Udoka made a public apology, but the Celtics said they would wait until “a later date” to decide if he would return to the team at all.
But now, he is expected to join the Nets after being hired “as soon as the next 24-to-48 hours,” Wojnarowski reported. The Celtics are expected to let him leave, having played the first few games of the season under the stewardship of interim head coach Joe Mazzulla.
“The hope is that Udoka can tighten the Nets defensively and command the respect of franchise’s key players,” Wojnarowski said. “Udoka spent a season on Steve Nash’s staff before accepting the Celtics job and winning the Eastern Conference. With suspension, his future in Boston was essentially over.”
Udoka joins a Nets team struggling on the court and attracting headlines off of it, with star player Kyrie Irving receiving criticism for promoting an antisemitic film.
Nets owner Joe Tsai publicly criticized Irving and said “this is bigger than basketball.”