How much money does Celtics coach Ime Udoka make a year?
Following Ime Udoka’s suspension, questions about the head coach’s current and past agreements with the Celtics continue to rise.
On Thursday, the Boston Celtics suspended their head coach Ime Udoka for a full year due to what they referred to as ‘improper relationship.’ Now, the coach who led them to the NBA finals last spring for the entire 2022-23 season, has left open the possibility that a longer separation could follow.
While Udoka faces an unfortunate pause in his coaching career with one of the most dominant teams in the NBA, he has also accomplished incredible things in Boston over only one year with the franchise.
The 45-year-old is the only first-year head coach to reach the 50-win mark in the NBA this season and the third rookie head coach in franchise history to win over 50 games. In his first year coaching the Celtics, Udoka has led the team back to the NBA Finals after more than a decade.
Related: What happens now that Ime Udoka has been suspended for the season but not fired?
How much was Udoka making with the Celtics?
The terms of the contract signed last offseason with Boston has still not been disclosed, but whatever the deal was, the Celtics surely felt they got away with a steal after Udoka took them somewhere they haven’t been since the days of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Whether they feel the same now is a different story.
Stevens stepped aside for Udoka
In the 2021 offseason, Udoka took over as the Celtics head coach, after working nine years as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets. The first-year coach made headlines as a defensive mastermind in his time serving under Greg Popovic, Brett Brown, and Steve Nash in San Antonio, Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
Udoka not only aligned with the vision of former coach and president of operations Brad Stevens, but was also someone who blended with the team’s long standing base of players.
Udoka earned the respect of many of the Celtics players before joining forces at TD Garden when he was an assistant with the US National team in 2019. Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown were all a part of that squad and were impressed working under Udoka. It is unknown whether these players feel the same about him now, but Udoka is surely apologetic about his actions.