Opinion: Did Udoka’s personal life have to be unraveled so harshly?

Ime Udoka during one of the NBA basketball games.

Stories break every week in the NBA, and last week was no different. Ime Udoka, head coach of the Boston Celtics, was suspended from the team for a year for having a consensual relationship with a female staff member.

Many reacted on Twitter to the news when reporter Adrian Wojnarowski released the information.

“I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization and my family for letting them down,” Udoka said in a statement released by ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “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.”

It was reported by Kevin Frazier of Entertainment Tonight that the female staffer Udoka was involved with was not only a member of the Celtics staff but was also married to another Celtics staff member. The woman’s husband found out about the affair from a conversation recorded from his doorbell.

My stance on this position, why an entire year?

You might as well fire him. If you don’t want to fire him, keep him as the head coach. It doesn’t make sense. It was a consensual relationship. Both parties involved definitely should be held responsible for their actions.

They could have suspended him without telling the public why. They could have made up a statement just saying he is out for personal reasons, which is true.

I get that within companies, there are different policies you can’t cross and many people do regarding relationships. I don’t understand why it was made public within the Celtic’s organization.

I feel this often happens in professional sports and teams don’t usually make it public. Work is supposed to be professional, but the organization should not have released this to the public.

In situations like this, you have to look at the woman involved and how that affects her and her family. That’s why you take caution when releasing information of this nature. Confusion about the identity of the woman surfaced on social media, making accusations against people who weren’t even involved.

Now, this situation is affecting more women who never should have been brought up. These innocent women are getting accused, hurting them and their careers.

Udoka did the deed, so he should be held accountable for his actions. He broke the policy of the organization where he works.

Most companies would have fired an employee right out the gate. This situation is troublesome but it should have been handled differently.

The Boston Celtics, because of the historical significance that they have in the NBA world, have to do better.

The Boston Celtics go into the season with an interim head coach after going to the NBA finals with Udoka. Boston has added great additions this off-season. We’ll see how they come out the gate starting this new NBA season.