Ime Udoka, who lost the Boston Celtics head coaching position amid a scandal last season, is reportedly interviewing with another team.
The Athletic’s Kelly Iko reported Monday that the Houston Rockets will interview Udoka for their head coaching position Wednesday.
This comes after the Rockets fired head coach Stephen Silas last week after three rebuilding seasons.
The Houston Rockets will interview Ime Udoka for the franchise’s head coaching job on Wednesday, sources tell @TheAthletic. Udoka was suspended by the Boston Celtics prior to the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) April 18, 2023
Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his only season at the helm in 2021-22. His relationship with the team quickly soured in September 2022, as the Celtics suspended him for the entire season for violating a team policy. Although it was initially reported that the violation involved dating a Celtics staffer, the woman later claimed Udoka had made unwanted advances.
The Celtics replaced Udoka with assistant coach Joe Mazzulla, who had the “interim” tag dropped from his title in February.
The 45-year-old Udoka, who played seven seasons for five NBA teams, worked nine years as an assistant. He earned praise in Boston as a players’ coach who is tough but fair.
NBA insider Shams Charania recently reported the Rockets were considering Udoka, along with Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson, Toronto’s Adrian Griffin, Frank Vogel, and James Borrego.
NBA observers and fans had mixed feelings on the news. Given the scandal in Boston last season, some of the memes were way too predictable.
Houston clubs seeing this pic.twitter.com/WLlZKlIz4X
— AY🇸🇴 (@aykeepitabuck) April 18, 2023
Houston strip club owners talking about potentially having Ime Udoka and James Harden with the Rockets next season pic.twitter.com/rzVXPcou6q
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) April 18, 2023
Great coach for Houston 👏
— CELTICS ☘️ BANNER 18 (@BiggLynch) April 18, 2023
Could not think of a better match.
— Greg Stevens (@kiwigreg5555) April 18, 2023
Ime Udoka is the one. I hope we get him 🙏 https://t.co/XhkIyNuL7J
— Andreas (@kappawarrior13) April 18, 2023
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.