On Friday, the Celtics’ brain trust repeatedly declined to reveal details of Ime Udoka’s one-year suspension, citing privacy reasons after announcing the head coach had violated team policies.
The guarding of all information regarding the situation apparently extends to the Celtics players as well.
Jayson Tatum said he learned about Udoka’s reported inappropriate, intimate relationship with a female Celtics staffer “on Twitter, like everybody else.”
Jaylen Brown continually stated he could not comment with any authority about Udoka because he has no more information than the public.
“I wish we had more details,” Brown told reporters at Celtics Media Day on Monday. “From what we know, it’s hard to make a decision based upon whether it’s consensual or not in the workplace or whatever’s going on. Which we know has happened before in the workplace, but I guess there’s more to it possibly, which we don’t know.”
Brown and Tatum said they had not talked with Udoka since the suspension.
“It’s been hell for us,” Marcus Smart said. “Nobody really knows anything. We’re just in the wind, like everybody else. The last couple of days have been confusing.”
Udoka, 45, led Boston to the NBA Finals last season and was set to guide an Eastern Conference threat that has added Malcolm Brogdon. Last week, the Celtics suspended Udoka for a full season amid reports of the relationship, which majority owner Wyc Grousbeck and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens declined to elaborate upon.
Jayson Tatum speaks at Celtics Media Day on Sept. 26, 2022. Getty ImagesGrousbeck said the discipline was “well-warranted,” with which Celtics players said they did not know enough to agree or disagree.
“I felt like everybody else. It’s a lot to process, unexpected,” Tatum told reporters. “Especially coming into this season and you feel a certain way — coming off last year that you’re excited and trying to do all these things. … You’re still trying to process it all knowing we start practice [Tuesday].”
Brown said he was “shocked” when he heard.
Ime Udoka (r.) and Jayson Tatum (l.) during a Celtics NBA Finals practice on June 9, 2022. NBAE via Getty Images“Not a lot of information is being shared. It’s a lot of confusion going around, a lot of speculation going around, which makes it difficult on the guys that have been here and the guys that are here now,” said Brown, who now will be coached by assistant Joe Mazzulla. “But I guess what we do is do our jobs. That’s what we’re here for.”






