BOSTON (WHDH/AP) — The Boston Celtics officially announced Monday that Ime Udoka is the team’s 18th head coach.
Udoka, 43, played a total of 316 games over seven seasons with five NBA teams before retiring in 2012 and joining Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio as an assistant coach. He was with the Spurs for seven seasons, including in 2013-14, when they won the NBA title.
Udoka joined the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and was with the Nets last year.
Udoka takes over a Celtics team that reached the Eastern Conference finals in three of the previous four seasons before plummeting to the No. 7 seed this year and losing in the first round to Brooklyn.
After the five-game loss to the Nets, Celtics president Danny Ainge retired and coach Brad Stevens gave up his spot on the bench to replace him.
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