Nia Long and Ime Udoka are no more. After a 13-year relationship, the actress and former Celtics coach have called it quits, according Long’s rep as confirmed to both People and ET. This comes after Udoka’s alleged affair with a team service manager with the Celtics.
The cheating scandal, which was made public by the Celtics suspending him for one season on September 22nd of 2022, was the clear motive behind the couple officially moving on.
Why Nia Long and Ime Udoka never got married
On November 7th of of 2011, both Nia and Ime welcomed son Kez Sunday Udoka into the world. The question back then asked frequently to the couple was if they were ever thinking of getting wed, which she replied to back then as not being a “priority”. 4 years later, in 2015, they got engaged but never married.
The former NBA player and coach and the Hollywood actress began dating in 2010 after being set up by a mutual friend. Back then, Udoka was a player for the Sacramento Kings and it was precisely in Boston that they met: when she was filming a pilot for an NBC show and he was playing a game at the TD Garden.
Ime Udoka intimately greets Kathleen Nimmo-Lynch after winning ECF
Nia Long’s ex Maasai Z. Dorsey revealed she was “sticking by Udoka’s side”
Nia Long’s ex-boyfriend and the father to her previous son, Maasai Z. Dorsey, revealed in early October that the actress was “sticking by Ime Udoka’s side”. The speculation was that the couple was really trying to work through the issues, but eventually it proved to be too much.
What’s next for Ime Udoka?
Udoka was in a great place with the Celtics, in terms of job security, with the franchise until the affair was revealed. The Brooklyn Nets allegedly thought of Udoka as a replacement for their former coach Steve Nash, but the ownership decided to go in another direction with Jacque Vaughn.
According to NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Ime Udoka will coach again in the NBA. It may not happen till next season but, so far, violating the Celtics internal policy on relationships with staff members hasn’t proven to be a red flag for franchises around the league.