Unbelivable. IML Udoka, the former head coach of the Boston Celtics, has formally announced his comeback.

Unbelivable. IML Udoka, the former head coach of the Boston Celtics, has formally announced his comeback.

Ime Udoka, the coach of the Boston Celtics, is at the center of one of the NBA’s most confusing circumstances.

The Celtics suspended him for a year under unclear circumstances just a few months after he guided his team to the verge of a title, throwing the team into disarray weeks before the new season began. Although an interim coach has been appointed, confusion has spread: no one is disclosing the details of what transpired in public, and many acquainted with Udoka are perplexed as to how the respected former player (who previously worked for FedEx) could be in such trouble.

One of Udoka’s former NBA colleagues, Martell Webster, expressed regret about the situation. “But rules are rules, and you’re indicating that you agree to the rules when you sign a contract and get paid.”

The Celtics have only stated that Udoka will be suspended for the 2022–2023 season due to “violations of team policies,” without providing any further details. Udoka had an affair with a female subordinate, according to two people with knowledge of the matter but not permitted to speak about it in public.

Udoka, 45, issued a statement to ESPN following the announcement of his ban on September 22. In it, he expressed regret for disappointing his family, teammates, and supporters.

In a statement to TMZ, the actress Nia Long, who is married to Udoka’s newborn kid, requested privacy.

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After the Celtics battled for several months, center Udoka guided them to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference the previous season.Give credit…Reuters via Nick Wosika/USA Today Sports
The impact of Udoka on basketball transcends both the NBA and the Celtics.

Udoka, the youngest of three siblings, was raised in Portland, Oregon, where his family always faced financial difficulties. Vitalis, his father, was an immigrant from Nigeria who put in a lot of overtime as a worker. The Boston Globe said that when the lights at their apartment went out, his mother Agnes would gather her kids around a gas oven to stay warm.

But one thing never changed for Udoka: basketball. As a collegiate player, he bounced around, attending the University of San Francisco, Eastern Utah Junior College, and Portland State for his final two seasons. There, he was well-known for his strong defense until a knee injury ruined his senior year. He has a reputation for being persistent and having a high work ethic.

Derek Nesland, a Portland State teammate of Udoka’s, said, “Ime was extremely driven to excel at basketball.” He was limited to one style of play. And he truly used everything at his disposal for that.

Although they first met as teenagers, Nesland and Udoka grew close while in college. After they both left the program, he and other teammates stayed in contact with Udoka. Even though it wasn’t shocking, hearing that Udoka had been promoted to head coach in the NBA was cause for celebration, even from afar.

Nesland stated, “With a lot of our guys that played with him, we actually had a group text chat.” And many players who had never supported the Celtics in their life suddenly became supporters of the team, if only temporarily. And we were all rooting for him to succeed.

After graduating from college, Udoka signed with the Fargo-Moorhead Beez, a minor league team in North Dakota, after not being chosen in the NBA draft. He had another knee injury a few weeks into the season. After working odd jobs for several months, such as packing boxes for FedEx, he spent several years working on European teams and in the N.B.A.’s developmental league, the fringes of professional basketball.

Udoka signed with the Knicks near the conclusion of the 2005–06 season, and he played in eight games, which was sufficient for him to make an impression on Isiah Thomas, the team’s general manager at the time. Thomas told Udoka that he would be a terrific coach in the future.

One of Udoka’s best friends, Kumbeno Memory, claimed in a previous season’s interview that Udoka had told him about the discussion with Thomas. “I know I’m mentoring some of the younger guys well, but am I really suited to be a coach?” he asked. Recall stated.

When Udoka signed with the Portland Trail Blazers the next season, the team’s coach, Nate McMillan, gave him similar advice. One of Udoka’s teammates from that season, Webster, stated last week in an interview that Udoka was a complete pro—he was always prepared and arrived early for practice.

According to Webster, “he was really like a coach on the court.” “He wasn’t particularly athletic or anything, but he always understood how to play the game and that having physical prowess wasn’t as important as having a sharp mind in it.”

The following four seasons, Udoka was a member of the Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs. In addition, he was working as an A.A.U. coach in the Portland region, where he coached Memory and Kendrick Williams, another friend from his youth.

Udoka stated in a previous season’s interview that he acquired his coaching skills at the A.A.U. level. He claimed that there was no one-size-fits-all employment. The coach of Udoka in San Antonio, Gregg Popovich, furthered the point.

Udoka remarked, “How you could coach one guy and what you could say and how it was totally different.” “Especially at that age, Pop would talk about the relationship part, and that’s what it was.” gaining their confidence and demonstrating your genuine concern for them.

By 2012, Udoka had returned to playing in Europe after leaving the NBA. Following a few months with the Spanish team UCAM Murcia, he traveled to Las Vegas with a group of friends to witness the NBA summer league. He was thinking about returning overseas for another season as his 35th birthday approached.

Popovich gave him a call one afternoon, offering him a position as the Spurs’ assistant coach.

Mike Moser, who first met Udoka through his A.A.U. squad, recalled the decision as being “really hard,” adding, “We’re sitting there talking for hours about it.” Moser made this statement in an interview from the previous season. “In the end, he made the decision to accept it. I’m going to carry it out. I’ll be the coach. And I recall being astonished. But I will always remember it.

Udoka worked as an assistant in San Antonio for seven seasons. A championship was the product of one of the seasons. Prior to taking a one-season position as head coach of the Boston Celtics in June 2021, Udoka had spent one season each with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets.