Getty Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics.
On Thursday night, the Boston Celtics announced that they would be suspending head coach Ime Udoka for the entirety of the 2022-23 NBA season after he reportedly had an intimate relationship with a female member of the team’s staff.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN originally broke the news, and that report was swiftly followed up by one from Shams Charania of The Athletic, which revealed the nature of the potential infractions. While the original report indicated that the relationship was consensual, new details may suggest otherwise.
While the exact details of the situation have not been released and likely never will be, former NBA player Matt Barnes gave fans some insight into the situation. After defending Udoka, Barnes claimed that someone with intimate knowledge of the situation let him know that it’s a lot worse than people realize.
“Last night, without knowing all the facts, I spoke on Ime Udoka’s defense and after finding out the facts after I spoke, I erased what I posted because this situation in Boston is deep, it’s messy, it’s 100 times uglier than any of us thought,” said Barnes.
Again, there is little chance that Barnes or anybody else releases the actual details of the situation to the public, but based on that, the full story is likely not out there right now. Barnes even expanded upon those thoughts, saying that he cannot condone the behavior he heard about.
Barnes: ‘Things Happened That I Can’t Condone’
When initial reports came out that Udoka could be suspended for the season due to a consensual relationship with a team official, some immediately jumped out to his defense, claiming that the punishment was too harsh. Barnes was among those people.
However, after being informed about the situation a bit more, he said that he can’t condone the actions that occurred.
“Some things happened that I can’t condone, I can’t back, and it’s not my place to tell you what happened,” Barnes explained. “If it ends up coming out, it ends up coming out. But that is the reason why I erased my post last night because after I posted it, I got a call from someone who ran all the details and shit is deep. Praying for everybody involved, hope everyone gets through this.”
The only extra details that are known about the situation came from a follow-up report written by Charania.
Udoka Began Making ‘Unwanted Comments’
According to Charania, the Celtics were made out to believe that the relationship was consensual by both parties involved. However, the woman later accused Udoka of making “unwanted comments,” which led to a formal investigation that concluded on Wednesday and led to a long meeting between team officials.
“Some members of the Celtics organization first became aware of the relationship in July, sources said. At that time, team leadership was led to believe by both parties that the relationship was consensual. But sources said that the woman recently accused Udoka of making unwanted comments toward her — leading the team to launch a set of internal interviews.
“The team’s decision and announcement came after a closed-door meeting Thursday that involved team owners and president Brad Stevens and lasted several hours, sources said. Earlier Thursday, Stevens and members of the Celtics front office met with players at the team facility,” Charania wrote.
Now, the Celtics will be without Udoka for the upcoming season, and his future on the team remains in question.