NBA fans had many different opinions on how the Boston Celtics handled head coach Ime Udoka’s suspension last month.
No one, however, came up with a hot take like Stephen A. Smith did Tuesday.
The Celtics suspended their coach for a year for having an inappropriate relationship with another staffer in violation of team policy. Subsequent reports revealed the woman accused Udoka of making unwanted comments and using crude language toward her.
Speaking on ESPN’s “First Take,” Smith said the Celtics opted to suspend Udoka instead of fire him because they wanted to prevent him from being hired by another team.
“I believe part of the reason he was suspended, not fired, is because the Boston Celtics did not want him to end up in Brooklyn,” Smith said (via the New York Post). “I believe that Ime Udoka, had he gotten fired, with all the stuff that happened — remember, the operative words were ‘consensual relationship, violation of organization policy!’ So because it’s that, it’s about your behavior, which we don’t endorse, as opposed to a crime.
“And because there was nothing that was put out there that said it was a crime, I believe that if Ime Udoka had been fired by the Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets would’ve fired Steve Nash and brought that brother back and he would be the coach for the Brooklyn Nets right now. That’s how emphatic I am about this.”
"I believe that part of the reason [Ime Udoka] was suspended, but not fired is because the Boston Celtics did not want him to end up in Brooklyn… The Nets would have fired Steve Nash and brought [Udoka] back & he would be the coach."
🗣️ @stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/3Mhewu4u88
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 18, 2022
As they say, everyone’s entitled to an opinion, and Smith quickly clarified that he didn’t have any inside scoop on this theory, that it’s “just my opinion.”
