Rockets Coach Ime Udoka on ‘Hot Seat’ Before Lakers Series

Just like each different NBA staff he is ever been on, Kevin Durant‘s time with the Houston Rockets has been outlined by his once-in-a-lifetime expertise, profitable video games… and mad drama.

For Durant, there’s additionally often collateral injury within the type of coaches shedding their jobs, teammates getting traded, and general, simply bridges being burned.

The collateral injury in Houston may very well be Third-year head coach Ime Udoka, who 1 NBA insider thinks may very well be on the new seat relying on the end result of the Rockets’ 1st-round playoff collection towards the Los Angeles Lakers.

“For the Hot Seat Coach Category, I’ve got Ime Udoka,” The Ringer’s Bill Simmons mentioned. “I have not been impressed by the coaching of this team this year. The chemistry doesn’t seem great. I think the offense has just been bizarre … I just don’t understand it. And I would be very unsurprised if he was not their coach next year. Remember last year, I took (former New York Knicks head coach ) Tom Thibodeau in this category … and I was proven correct.”

The Lakers and Rockets play Game 1 on Saturday at 8:30 pm EST on ESPN.

How the Houston Rockets Became Such a Mess

It’s not hard to see where the season went off the rails for Udoka and the Rockets — All-Star Weekend.

That’s when several stories linked Durant to a burner account on X that was critical of teammates Jabari Smith and Alperen Sengun and created several message groups that defended Durant.

In 2017, Durant admitted to using burner accounts while he was on the Oklahoma City Thunder to defend himself on-line. Durant didn’t deny the latest accusations; he simply known as it “Twitter nonsense” and refused to reply questions on it.

“Durant is one of the most active players on social media — he has almost 20 million followers on wrote on February 19. “He has a history with burner accounts dating back to an incident in 2017, where several tweets from a personal or ‘burner’ Twitter account about his exit from Oklahoma City were exposed, and he publicly apologized for that. In 2021, Durant was fined $50,000 by the NBA for “homophobic and misogynistic language” in an Instagram DM alternate with actor Michael Rapaport (who made the alternate public). He has admitted on a podcast that he had used burner accounts “so he could express himself more freely online without the glare of the spotlight.”

The Rockets had been 33-20 earlier than the All-Star break and went 19-10 after the All-Star break.

Ime Udoka No Stranger to Controversy

Udoka is not any stranger to controversy, having endured 1 of the messier off-court scandals in latest reminiscence.

After Udoka led the Boston Celtics To the NBA Finals following his 1st season as head coach in 2021-22, he was suspended for your complete 2022-23 season for having what was known as an “inappropriate relationship” with a feminine employees member.

Udoka was completely changed by his former assistant, Joe Mazzula, and have become the top coach of the Rockets in 2023-24 and led them to the postseason in his 2nd season, the place they misplaced within the 1st spherical of the Western Conference Playoffs.

The Rockets have not superior previous the first spherical since 2019-20, after they misplaced within the Western Conference semifinals.

Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a spotlight on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports activities author and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame