After falling out of favor in Boston, Ime Udoka has made his way back to the NBA.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday reported the Houston Rockets have a deal in place to hire Udoka as the franchise’s next head coach. The agreement comes roughly seven months after the Celtics first issued a season-long suspension to Udoka and two months after Boston officially replaced the 45-year-old with Joe Mazzulla.
In a column published shortly after breaking the news, Wojnarowski explained why the Rockets were so motivated to hire Udoka.
“Udoka’s ability to galvanize a locker room and command respect were an immense part of his appeal to the Rockets and the marketplace,” Wojnarowski wrote. “Udoka led the Celtics to a 51-31 record and became one of five rookie head coaches to reach the NBA Finals in the past 25 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information.”
Udoka is set to take over a Rockets team that finished with the third-worst record in the 2022-23 NBA regular season. But with that, Houston is one of three teams with a 14% chance to win the upcoming draft lottery. Should the ping pong balls bounce the Rockets’ way, Udoka will have a chance to coach generational prospect Victor Wembanyama, the odds-on favorite (-20000 at FanDuel Sportsbook) to be selected first overall June 22.
