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The Brooklyn Nets owner is reportedly being urged not to replace Steve Nash with suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
The Nets parted ways with coach Nash amid a brutal 2-5 start, and suspended coach Udoka has emerged as the favorite to replace the two-time MVP. Celtics guard Marcus Smart expressed disappointment on Wednesday that Udoka appeared ready to join the Nets.
But team owner Joseph Tsai is strongly encouraged to consider someone else for the position, according to NBA reporter Marc Stein.
Brooklyn Nets owner reportedly urged not to replace Steve Nash (left) with suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka (right)
Nets owner Joseph Tsai (center) faces big decision after getting rid of Nash
The Nets are in the spotlight amid the Kyrie Irving saga and after a tumultuous offseason with Irving and Kevin Durant and the report claims intense research is a factor.
Since news of Nash’s resignation first surfaced on Tuesday, both Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and The Athletic’s Shams Charania have reported that Udoka is expected to be the next head coach in Brooklyn.
In September, Udoka was given a one-year suspension from the Celtics after allegations of an inappropriate affair with a female club employee surfaced. Boston would be willing to let Udoka leave, even if he remains under contract, Wojnarowski reports. Udoka was actually an assistant coach under Nash during the 2020-21 campaign.
Several outlets reported on Udoka’s affair in September, with ESPN adding that an independent study found that the freshman head coach “used abusive language in his dialogue with a female subordinate prior to initiating an inappropriate working relationship.”
According to Wojnarowski, the Nets have been investigating the circumstances surrounding Udoka’s suspension in the hopes that he can help improve the league’s 29th defensive team. In addition to working with Nets stars Durant and Irving, Udoka also spent time as an assistant in Philadelphia, where he coached current Nets forward Ben Simmons.
Udoka’s Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of last season’s playoffs
General manager Sean Marks told reporters on Tuesday that the players, including Irving and Durant, had no say in Nash’s resignation. He further denied that he had already settled for Udoka as a replacement.
“I’d say I’ll reserve that for when those decisions are made and I can’t give you a time frame for that,” Marks said. “There is of course a reason why we took this step when we did, because time is ticking. So we want this to be a thorough process, we don’t skip any steps and then we do our due diligence like in any other way.’
Former Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder was also mentioned by Wojnarowski as a possible replacement.
Nash, 48, finished his first career as a head coach with a 92-62 record and two playoff appearances.
Udoka’s alleged affair became tabloid fodder, as his longtime fiancé and mother of his son is actress Nia Long, of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame.
Long had reportedly moved to Boston in the weeks before the scandal surfaced in September, only to tell TMZ she had been taken aback by the affair.
DailyMail.com can reveal that the Celtics employee who had an affair with coach Ime Udoka (pictured left with fiancé Nia Long), 45, is team service manager Kathleen Nimmo Lynch, 34.
The details of the Udoka allegations have not been fully disclosed, but retired NBA forward Matt Barnes promised they are “100 times uglier than any of us thought.”
The female employee in question was team service manager Kathleen Nimmo Lynch, 34, a married mother of three, DailyMail.com reported last month. The Celtics have not identified the woman Udoka was involved in, but Lynch’s name had been leaked online.
Lynch has acted as a team liaison in arranging travel, lodging and game tickets for Celtics relatives at home and on the road, and likely arranged travel for Udoka’s fiancée, Long.
Nash had to deal with his share of the Brooklyn turmoil, which mainly involved Durant and Irving.
Nash said goodbye to the Nets (left) on Tuesday after two tumultuous years with Brooklyn stars Kevin Durant (almost right) and Kyrie Irving (far right)
A Hall of Fame point guard with the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns, Nash went 48-24 with Brooklyn in his first season as head coach before beating the rival Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. In the end, the Nets fell to eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the second round while Irving and James Harden were injured.
Things got more complicated for Nash in 2021-22, largely due to Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated, in violation of a local COVID-19 mandate. As a result, Irving missed all but 29 of the regular season games last season before the vaccine mandate was lifted. The Nets were eventually swept by Boston in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs.
Worsening problems for the Nets was the disgruntled Harden, who was eventually shared with Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Simmons.
Then, over the summer, Durant demanded that team owner Tsai fire Marks and Nash or trade them elsewhere. The three finally met in LA in August and agreed to work together this season.
But this season has not started well in Brooklyn. For example, during Wednesday’s loss, an enraged Nash was ejected for arguing with officials for the first time in his coaching career.
Irving sparked controversy last week after sharing a link to a movie based on a book described as “toxicly anti-Semitic.”
He became embroiled in a verbal altercation over a report on his controversial tweet
Irving sparked controversy last week. He was banned from at least five games by the Nets on Thursday night after sharing a link to a film based on a book described as “toxicly anti-Semitic.”
The 30-year-old faced backlash and criticism for the post, but initially refused to resign or apologize for his actions until his suspension Thursday, when he finally released a statement saying he was “deeply sorry.” .
The Durant-Irving era in Brooklyn should result in a first NBA title for the Nets, but has fallen far short of expectations.
The two perennial All-Stars signed in 2019 in Brooklyn for a combined $300 million, despite Durant having to serve out his first season with the team due to a ruptured Achilles tendon he sustained in the previous NBA final.
Irving nearly had his contract canceled this summer before agreeing to stay with the team for the final season and take $36 million off the deal.
Meanwhile, Durant signed a four-year extension worth $198 million with the team in August 2021 and cannot become a free agent until 2026.
Both Durant and Irving seemed to reject Nash at times during their brief tenures together.