Celtics Finalizing an Agreement to Hire Ime Udoka as Their New Head Coach

After a search of exactly three weeks, the Celtics have found their new head coach: Nets assistant Ime Udoka.

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported yesterday that Udoka was at the top of the Celtics list of candidates to replace Brad Stevens. He was one of the candidates the team was reportedly seeking a second interview with last week and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that Boston was working to finalize an agreement to make him the team’s next head coach.

Udoka spent seven seasons in the NBA as a player and two overseas, spending three of those years with the Spurs.

He then stayed in San Antonio as assistant under Popovich, spending seven seasons there before moving on to assistant coaching positions with the 76ers and Nets over the last two seasons.

Udoka was also an assistant on Team USA in 2019, coaching Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart in the FIBA World Cup and Wojnarowski reported last week that some of the Celtics players who were coached by Udoka gave him strong reviews.

Photo: (Mark J. Rebilas – USA TODAY Sports)