Stephen A. Smith has slammed the Boston Celtics‘ handling of Ime Udoka, as he believes the team should not have leaked details of his one-year suspension if they were going to keep him on board.
Udoka was officially suspended by the team Thursday for a violation of team policies after he had a reportedly consensual relationship with a female staffer.
And while reports of Udoka’s actions and possible suspension began to trickle out on Wednesday, Smith believes the woman involved should also be named and that Udoka should not be retained as coach under these circumstances.
‘Incredibly disappointed today,’ Smith said on ESPN’s First Take Friday. ‘Ime Udoka cannot be defended. His actions were egregious, irresponsible to be in the leadership position that he is in. I’m not here to make any excuses or any apologies for his behavior. It is inexcusable, it’s a fireable offense as far as I’m concerned.
‘But it doesn’t negate what the Celtics are doing here. According to your reports [ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski], and what we have been talking about over the last couple of days, this was a consensual relationship. Was Ime Udoka involved with himself? The answer to that is no. Two consenting adults engaged in this act, or these actions that clearly were in violation of the Boston Celtics policy.
‘But all we’re hearing about is Ime, and to [owner] Wyc Grousbeck who I profoundly respect, I would strongly advise him, maybe he should speak to a publicist or take some classes himself. Because he threw out a couple of bombs here about Ime Udoka.
Stephen A. Smith was very upset with how the Celtics handled Ime Udoka’s reported affair
Smith went on to say that suspending Udoka – especially as the Celtics said they would make a decision about the coach’s future ‘at a later date’ – would ‘ruin his career for the next couple of years’, and continued to criticize the Celtics not keeping the information in-house, or at least attempting to.
‘At this particular moment in time… Ime Udoka is an unhireable individual. But the unhireable portion, I would make the claim, is primarily due to the fact that the story was leaked out and we are now discussing it publicly.
‘The woman who elected to have a consensual relationship with him is not in violation [of team policy]? He gets to get mentioned and put on front street – we don’t know who she is.
Ime Udoka is suspended for the entire 2022-23 season and there’s no guarantee he’ll be back
‘What about the other women in the Celtics organization who have been victimized because wrong assumptions have been made [about] their involvement? If you knew exactly who it was, that would alleviate the concerns of all the other women who have had their names paraded out into the streets. What about them?
According to The Athletic, some members of the Celtics learned about Udoka’s relationship in July, and team leaders were initially led to believe the relationship was consensual.
However, sources told the publication that the woman recently accused Udoka of making unwanted comments towards her, which led he team to launch internal interviews.
Joe Mazulla, a 34-year-old who served as a Celtics assistant last year, will be the interim coach for the 2022-23 season.