Trusted NBA Insider Shams Charania presented a new timeline about how the Ime Udoka scandal unfolded in a recent appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."
It makes even less sense than what was originally known.
The first part of Charania's timeline matches up with what the Celtics have said publicly. He says Udoka's improper relationship with a female staffer started during the playoffs, and ended sometime in July, when the Celtics found out. Owner Wyc Grousbeck told reporters last month the team became aware of the relationship over the summer.
When the story broke, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski curiously reported it was a "consensual" relationship, which didn't seem to align with the Celtics' yearlong suspension of their star head coach, who came within two victories of winning the NBA Finals in his first season at the helm.
The following morning, Charania added that Udoka made "unwanted comments" towards the woman. Then speculation started to get real ominous. Former NBA player Matt Barnes publicly retracted his support for Udoka, saying the real story is "100 times worse" than anybody could imagine. That suggests Udoka did more than make unwelcome sexual comments towards a female subordinate — as reprehensible as that is.
McAfee said as much on his show. "I thought it was going to be much different than what you said there. Is there more that's potentially going to come out?," he asked.
But Charania told McAfee he doesn't think the story goes beyond "unwanted comments." In a follow-up story a week-and-a-half ago, Wojnarowski added there was "crude language" involved.
It's astounding that so many facets of the Udoka scandal remain shrouded in mystery. We live in an era in which video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole at practice gets leaked to TMZ.
No reporter in the country can dig up more details about Udoka's astonishing suspension than "unwanted comments?"
The new information that Charania presented last week adds slightly more clarity to Udoka's reported inappropriate remarks. Charania says the relationship was originally presented to ownership as consensual, and the Celtics moved on with their offseason. " "They were told everything was good between the two sides. That it was a consensual relationship," said Charania. "This wasn't a topic that anybody within the Celtics was worried about."
So how did we get from this "not being a topic that anybody within the Celtics was worried about" to a one-season suspension? Charania says the woman told the Celtics a few weeks ago about Udoka's unwanted advances, prompting the team to launch an investigation.
That suggests there's more to the story. Why did the Celtics originally believe it was consensual?
Charania was steadfast in his denial that the investigation into Udoka was about anything more than words. "This was the extent of this investigative process," said Charania. "I've seen all the various things on the Internet that you probably have, blowing this up. I've seen everything. But to clear things up, there wasn't an investigation into multiple women in the workplace. There was an investigation into one intimate, improper relationship. It was one female, one investigative process."
That sounds awfully defensive.
The radio silence around the story indicates there could be legal processes to consider, which adds further doubt to Charania's insistence it was a simple and narrow investigation.
The more we "learn" about Udoka, the more it's apparent we still know nothing at all.
