Former NBA Player backing Udoka retracts, says situation ‘100 times uglier’

Former NBA player Matt Barnes is changing his stance on the Boston Celtics issuing a season-long ban to Ime Udoka due to “violations of team policies.”

Barnes, who spent 14 years playing in the league and is now a member of the media, at first came to the defense of Udoka on Thursday night when the Celtics officially handed down their suspension of the coach.

Barnes quickly deleted the video he originally posted, and on Friday, he explained why he did so while exhibiting a much different tone on the situation. 

“I try to report and talk with facts and honesty and I clearly have to say last night without knowing all the facts, I spoke on Ime Udoka’s defense,” Barnes said in a social media post, via WBZ’s Adam Kauffman. “After finding out the facts after I spoke, I erased what I posted because this situation in Boston is deep, it’s messy, it’s 100 times uglier than any of us thought. That’s why I erased what I said.”

Udoka’s violation reportedly is having an improper intimate and consensual relationship with a female staffer on the Celtics, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. 

Charania added to his original reporting that Udoka made “unwanted comments” toward the individual. 

“Some things happened that I can’t condone. I can’t back,” Barnes said. “It’s not my place to tell you what happened. If it ends up coming out, it ends up coming out. But that was the reason I erased my post last night. After I posted it, I got a call from someone who had all the details, and this (expletive) is deep.” 

Meanwhile, there are arguments that Udoka is well past the age of consent, which varies from 16-18 across the U.S. So is the unnamed Celtics staff member linked to Udoka’s season-long suspension.

The grown coach had a consensual, intimate relationship (according to initial reports), with a grown woman who also works for the team. 

For those who don’t understand why Udoka was punished—with no guarantee of resuming his duties—forget about the adults’ ages.

When it comes to consensual relationships in the workplace, subordinates might as well be minors. 

Their consent doesn’t count.

His silence is useless to everyone involved, namely the team’s female employees. They’re already victims of tabloid reporters and social-media sleuths. One minute, the women were minding their business, virtually anonymous; the next minute, they’re going viral, as folks throw out wild guesses as to who Udoka’s partner might be. 

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said Udoka committed more than one violation of team policy and discipline was not being considered for any other team employees.

He also said the organization didn’t leak the story Wednesday night: “Obviously, we would have nothing to do with that and nothing to gain from that.”

According to The Athletic, Udoka and the woman initially led management to believe that the relationship was consensual. But she recently accused the coach of making unwanted comments toward her, sparking an investigation.

Unwelcome advances by a custodian or accountant are bad enough. But they’re worse coming from execs like the head coach. The power dynamic is too unbalanced, too ripe for potential abuse and coercion. Subordinates can’t win in that position; neither can a boss they sleep with. 

The same is true with a female boss and male underling or a gay relationship with the same office dynamic. They’re always inappropriate and have led to firings in college as well as the pros. Udoka should be grateful that he remains on staff, though his reinstatement is far from certain. 

But women employees of the Boston Celtics aren’t as fortunate. They’re subject to waves of public infamy. Whisper campaigns from people who know nothing about them and cyberbullying from trolls who care nothing about them. There’s no end in sight, either, unless an employee steps forward and fesses up.

Grousbeck said the suspension includes “a very significant financial penalty.” Long asked for privacy while she processes the news.