BOSTON — After the Boston Celtics launched an investigation into their head coach and before he was suspended for the 2022-23 NBA season as a result of their findings, Ime Udoka met with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and “a couple” of his teammates in Los Angeles to discuss their championship pursuit.
“That’s why it seems so off guard to us,” Smart said, “because everything seemed so normal.”
No NBA coach has ever been expelled so abruptly before a season that carried such high expectations, and we have no idea how Celtics players will respond to the sudden change at the top of their coaching staff. They don’t know, either. The one thing we can say with some certainty is that they are shell-shocked, and the person most responsible for building the trust that led them to the 2022 NBA Finals has broken it.
And how did they find out? “S***, on Twitter, like everybody else,” said rising Celtics star Jayson Tatum.
“I found out the same as everyone else,” added teammate Grant Williams.
Everyone else found out on Wednesday night, when in the span of two hours, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the suspension was coming and The Athletic’s Shams Charania provided a rudimentary explanation: “Udoka had an improper and consensual relationship with a female member of the team staff.”
We have since come to learn there is more, possibly much more, to Udoka’s suspension. Speaking as vaguely as he could for “privacy reasons,” Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck on Friday said they learned of the allegations against Udoka “sometime over the summer” and hired a law firm to conduct the investigation, which upon completion on Wednesday revealed “multiple violations” of team policies.
The Celtics did not expect the story to leak so soon after they learned the extent of Udoka’s transgressions. By Thursday, Charania’s report had removed “consensual” from his description of the relationship and added, “sources said that the woman recently accused Udoka of making unwanted comments toward her.”
Details about Udoka’s alleged actions are running rampant in league circles. At least two former NBA players turned analysts have alluded to more serious allegations after learning the “truth” and “facts,” and they are just two of many who portend to know more about the investigation than the Celtics have revealed.
Which is why it is hard to believe Celtics players are not as informed, but that is the position they are taking.
“If you read the…