Nia Long SLAMS the Celtics’ handling of fiancé Ime Udoka’s suspension over affair with staffer

Actress Nia Long is slamming the Boston Celtics’ handling of the scandal involving her fiancé, suspended coach Ime Udoka, saying the NBA franchise has not reached out to her since his affair with a team staffer was revealed in September.

Udoka’s future with the team has remained in doubt since he was suspended by the Celtics for the ongoing 2022-23 season.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the 52-year-old Long said the team has not made any effort to check in on her or her sons, one of whom was fathered by Udoka.

‘If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK,’ she said.

‘I think the most heart-breaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public.’

Long did not update her relationship status in the interview, and it is not clear if she has rekindled with Udoka, who has avoided any media exposure since being suspended. However, she did tell THR that she and her sons are moving back to Los Angeles from Boston.

Nia Long with fiancé Ime Udoka in 2017. He has been suspended as the head coach of the Boston Celtics for an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer

Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm poses with Nia Long and Ime Udoka after the game against the New York Liberty on August 20, 2021 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn

‘I went home to be with my son, and that was what was most important to me, because he was not having an easy time,’ Long said. 

The couple has one son together, who was born in 2011, and whom she took out of school when Udoka’s affair became public.

‘It was devastating, and it still is,’ Long said, adding that her son ‘still has moments where it’s not easy for him.’

Long also has a 21-year-old son from a previous relationship with actor Massai Dorsey.

The scandal broke in September, beginning with reports of Udoka’s imminent suspension. The Athletic then reported that the coach made ‘unwanted’ comments to the woman with whom he had an affair.

Long reportedly had moved to Boston in the weeks before the scandal surfaced, only to tell TMZ that she was blindsided by the affair, while asking for privacy at this difficult time.

Udoka issued his own statement following his suspension in September: ‘I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down.’

The female employee is team service manager Kathleen Nimmo Lynch, 34, a married mother-of-three, DailyMail.com can disclose. The Celtics have not identified the woman Udoka was involved with, but Lynch’s name had been leaked online.

She served as a team liaison arranging travel, lodging and game tickets for Celtics family members at home and on the road, and is likely to have arranged travel for Long.

Udoka was named head coach of the Boston Celtics at the start of the 2021-22 season after former head coach Brad Stevens was promoted to President of Basketball Operations.

In his first season as a head coach, Udoka amassed a 51-31 record and guided the Celtics to a regular-season Atlantic Division title.

Udoka then helped lead Boston all the way to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. There, they fell to the Golden State Warriors in six games.

Before coaching with the Celtics, Udoka spent time as an assistant coach for eight seasons at the San Antonio Spurs under head coach Gregg Popovich, helping to win an NBA title in 2014.

Udoka left San Antonio in 2019, moving to the Philadelphia 76ers. The following season, he became an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets.

He was then hired as the head coach of the Celtics, becoming the fifth black head coach in the team’s history.

A Portland native, Udoka played at Portland State before a journeyman’s career that took him from low-level, independent leagues to Europe and eventually the NBA, where he carved out bench roles with the Spurs. He also had brief stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Sacramento Kings.