The Boston Celtics will have a new head coach for some period of time during the 2022-23 season, but as of now, the person he replaces is not expected to leave the team by his own volition. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Ime Udoka does not plan on resigning as the head coach of the team that he took to the NBA Finals during his first year at the helm. The news comes before the anticipated year-long suspension that he could receive for a violation of “organizational guidelines,” which reports indicate was “an improper intimate and consensual relationship with a female member of the team staff.”
Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka will not be resigning from his position as he awaits sanction from the organization, league sources tell @NBAonTNT.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) September 22, 2022
The potential for a Udoka resignation was first mentioned by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, who reported that he was considering it as an option earlier in the day on Thursday.
Ime Udoka has considered the possibility of resigning, sources told @SInow. Internally, coaches and staff members are bracing for the likelihood that Udoka will be suspended for one year for having a relationship with a female staffer.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) September 22, 2022
A little later, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN floated the possibility that, while Udoka’s coaching career won’t totally end, there’s “not necessarily a guarantee that he is back in this job after a year.”
"It's not necessarily a guarantee that [Ime Udoka] is back in this job after a year… I don't think the final chapter has been written on his head coaching career."#NBATwitter #BleedGreen pic.twitter.com/sLuYs5OPok
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) September 22, 2022
Udoka had a lengthy playing career before retiring to join the staff of the San Antonio Spurs in 2012. His coaching career included stops in San Antonio, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn before the Celtics decided to make him their head coach in the lead-up to the 2021-22 campaign. While things got off to a rocky start, Boston eventually turned things around, finished the regular season as the 2-seed in the East with a 51-31 record, won the conference, and made it to the NBA Finals, where they were unable to topple the Golden State Warriors.
