So why was Udoka on the coaching market less than a year after leading arguably the most promising young team in basketball to within two wins of the championship? His off-court actions are the reported culprit.
Udoka was suspended by the Celtics for the entire 2022-23 season in September 2022 following what was reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski as an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer. Per Wojnarowski, Udoka "used crude language in his dialogue with a female subordinate before the start of an improper workplace relationship with her, an element that significantly factored into the severity of Udoka's initial suspension.