After the Brooklyn Nets fired Steve Nash last week, reports indicated that it was virtually a forgone conclusion that the team’s next head coach would be Ime Udoka.
But the Nets haven’t hired Udoka yet, and some folks are starting to wonder if it’s going to happen at all.
Adam Zagoria of NJ.com recently offered some valuable insight into what may be happening behind the scenes.
“With the Nets already embroiled in one controversy over Kyrie Irving, they may end up avoiding another by backing off on hiring Ime Udoka as their next coach due to potential ‘blow back,’ multiple league sources said,” Zagoria wrote.
“‘[Nets owner] Joe [Tsai] is getting some blow back’ and there’s ‘too much potential drama,’ one league source said of a Udoka hiring.”
In a fascinating development, it sounds like Adam Silver may have gotten involved before the Nets were able to hire Udoka. Moreover, some women in leadership positions with the Nets have reportedly expressed concern over the potential hire.
“A second source said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ‘may have stepped in’ and also said ‘there has been some concern from women in leadership positions within the Nets,'” Zagoria wrote.
The Boston Celtics suspended Udoka for the entire 2022-23 season. According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, an independent law firm found that Udoka “used crude language in his dialogue with a female subordinate prior to the start of an improper workplace relationship with the woman.”
It remains to be seen if the Nets will eventually hire Udoka, but it definitely seems like less of a guarantee now than it did a few days ago.
The public view of the Nets organization has taken a huge hit already in recent seasons, and it has only gotten worse since the 2022-23 campaign started.
Of course, the franchise has also been in the news due to Irving’s decision to share a link to an anti-Semitic film, a choice that he seemingly defended at first before apologizing after the Nets suspended him.
Meanwhile, the Nets are not having a good 2022-23 season on the floor, as the team is just 4-6 through its first 10 games. Brooklyn has tons of talent on its roster, but availability issues and a lack of chemistry have the team under .500 so far.
It’s obviously an embarrassing time for the Nets. If Silver did indeed step in when it came to the team’s rumored plans to hire Udoka, it’s possible he did the organization a favor and saved it from more drama.
