There weren't any details known about Ime Udoka's conduct when it was leaked late on Sept. 22 that the Celtics were suspending their head coach for one season.
But ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski said he expected Udoka would coach again. In fact, Wojnarowski basically guaranteed it. And some ESPN talking heads followed suit.
Now, it seems like it's going to happen.
Wojnarowski tweeted Tuesday afternoon that Udoka is the front-runner to be the Nets' next head coach. Earlier Tuesday, Woj was the first to report the Nets fired Steve Nash, and were "expected" to inquire about Udoka.
Apparently, their inquiry didn't take very long.
It's been roughly five weeks since the Celtics announced they were discipling Udoka for an inappropriate romantic relationship with a female staffer. All the while, Wojnarowski, ESPN's leading NBA Insider, has pumped up Udoka as a head coaching candidate for other teams.
Wojnarowski originally reported Udoka's relationship was "consensual," a line that Stephen A. Smith irresponsibly ran with the following day.
Recently, Jeff Van Gundy blindly defended Udoka on the air during Celtics-Heat.
Smith, for his part, has pushed the Nets' interest in Udoka for a couple of weeks, saying the Celtics didn't fire him out of fear he would end up in Brooklyn.
The possibility of Udoka returning to the NBA this season seems increasingly realistic as more time passes, and no new information is learned. So far it's been reported that Udoka made "unwanted comments" towards the woman and used "crude language."
NBA Insider Shams Charania revealed last month the female staffer notified the Celtics about the relationship after it had ended in July, and told them about the unwanted comments later.
But that's all we have: vague references and a confusing timeline.
Wojnarowski's report Tuesday about the Nets and Udoka serves as the perfect bookend to his musings on "SportsCenter" Sept. 22 — just after he had broken the news about Udoka with a very weird tweet.
"There's no assurance and Ime Udoka was not given any assurance that he would ever coach the Celtics again. But what it does open up the door for — and certainly in talking to some other organizations today — he may become a candidate or a coach of interest for other jobs that might open, or might become open during the season, or certainly next season," said Woj. "The final chapter of Udoka's coaching career has not been written. This is not going to be a death knell for him. It could be the end in Boston. But this is a coach who made an incredible impression on people."
At that point, Wojnarowski conceivably didn't know anything about the Udoka story, because he didn't report any details. Yet, he confidently said on ESPN that Udoka would be a coaching candidate as soon as … this season.
Later that month, Wojnarowski reported the Celtics wouldn't interfere with Udoka seeking employment elsewhere, and teams were trying to gather "preliminary" info about the matter.
Longtime NBA reporter Ethan Strauss points out that Wojnarowski and Udoka are both signed with CAA clients, and Woj has a long history of covering for CAA clients.
It looks like the Nets are going to hire Udoka. Apparently, Woj saw this coming right after the bombshell story broke, and ESPN's biggest names didn't deviate from that narrative.
