At the beginning of the NBA’s free agency period, life was pretty good if you were a Boston Celtics fan. They had one of the best starting lineups in the league, consisting of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Rob Williams, Marcus Smart and Al Horford. To improve his team’s depth, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens traded for star guard Malcolm Brogdon (1) from Indiana, and signed veteran forward Danilo Gallinari. (2)
These moves led many basketball pundits and sportsbooks to proclaim the Celtics as the odds-on favorite to win the NBA championship in 2023. (3) Unfortunately for them, things did not go quite as planned. The first blow taken was when Gallinari tore what was believed to be his meniscus while playing for Team Italy during the FIBA tournament; later tests revealed he tore his ACL, effectively ending his first season in Boston before it began. (4)
On Sept. 21, 2022, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics were likely going to suspend Head Coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season. (5) Speculation swirled about what Udoka could have done to incur such a harsh punishment from the team; Wojnarowski later revealed that this suspension was due to Udoka having “an intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise’s staff.” (6)
Shams Charania, who covers the NBA for the online magazine The Athletic, later followed up by reporting that “some Celtics executives found out about the relationship in July and believed it was consensual, but the unnamed woman’s accusation that Udoka had made unwanted comments toward her led the team to investigate their relationship.” (7)
Udoka then released a statement saying “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down[…]I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team’s decision. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will have no further comment.” (8)
The Celtics organization later put out a statement saying that Udoka’s future with the franchise beyond the 2022-23 season would be decided at a “later date.” (9) In Udoka’s absence, the Celtics named assistant coach Joe Mazzulla their head coach for the upcoming season. The 34-year-old Mazzulla is the youngest head coach to take over a team that reached the NBA Finals the prior season, since Lawrence Frank in 2003-04, per ESPN Stats & Information research. (10)
The Celtics, already reeling from their head coach being suspended, somehow got even more bad news on Sept. 23, when it was revealed that center Robert Williams III needed arthroscopic knee surgery, which would likely keep him out for at least 8-12 weeks before he could resume basketball activities. (11)
The news was yet another devastating blow to the Celtics and Williams. Williams, who tore his meniscus late in the 2021-22 regular season, (12) returned for the playoffs, but the knee continued to bother him, causing him to miss stretches in the postseason. (13)
The Celtics are in a very difficult position with Williams; he is one of their best and most important players, the key to their success on both offense and defense, and it’s very hard to imagine them competing for a championship without him. But his constant injuries mean that the team really can’t rely on him to be available for long stretches.
During the Celtics’ media day, many of the players expressed their shock at the situation. Tatum, the team’s star, said he was not privy to any of the team’s decisions on Udoka, saying he heard about the scandal “on Twitter[…]like everybody else.” Smart said: “It’s been hell for us. Just caught by surprise. No one really knows anything, so we’re just in the wind like everybody else. Last couple of days have been confusing.” Brown said, “Nobody really has any of the information.” (14)
Despite all of their adversity and unforeseen roadblocks, the Celtics still have a very good team that should be able to compete for a championship. However, one has to wonder if the dark clouds hanging over the team will end up affecting them going into the 2022-23 season.
1. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34180437/boston-celtics-acquire-mal colm-brogdon-trade-indiana-pacers-sources-say
2. https://www.nba.com/news/danilo-gallinari-agrees-to-2-year-deal-with-bost on-celtics
3. https://dknation.draftkings.com/2022/7/1/23191717/nba-championship-odd s-2022-23-boston-celtics-malcolm-brogdon-trade-predictions-eastern-conf erence
4. https://www.nba.com/news/danilo-gallinari-suffers-torn-acl 5. https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1572776498280693761
6. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34639780/boston-celtics-coach-ime-u doka-facing-potential-disciplinary-action-team-violation-sources-say
7. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10049974-report-celtics-ime-udoka-acc used-of-making-unwanted-comments-toward-female-staffer
8. https://www.si.com/nba/2022/09/23/ime-udoka-releases-statement-celticsannounce-suspension
9. https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/09/22/celtics-suspend-ime-udoka-forentire-2022-23-season-due-to-violations-of-team-policies/
10.https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34646672/who-joe-mazzulla-meet-int erim-head-coach-boston-celtics 11. https://www.si.com/nba/celtics/top-stories/robert-williams-undergoes-arthro scopic-procedure-on-left-knee-expected-to-return-to-basketball-activities-i n-8-12-weeks
12. https://nesn.com/2022/03/robert-williams-update-what-led-to-surgery-withshorter-term-recovery/
13. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/robert-williams-injury-isaiah-th omas-nba-finals-celtics/iakq1fi42imukl1ynhyf0zuq#:~:text=Since%20then %2C%20he%20has%20been,in%20his%20surgically%20repaired%20kne e.&text=%22I%20was%20really%20having%20my,no%20point%2C%20in %20my%20opinion.
14. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/sports/basketball/jayson-tatum-ime-u doka-suspension-celtics.html