NBA Rumors: Why Ime Udoka Had ‘Immense Appeal’ To Rockets

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.