Since the news of Ime Udoka’s suspension broke on Thursday, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith has been outspoken in his defense of the Boston Celtics coach.
On Friday morning’s episode of First Take, Smith called the suspension “utter bulls–t” and described Udoka’s behavior as “common.”
Smith is taking some serious heat for blindly defending Udoka without having all the facts at his disposal.
“Do you know the details???? That’s what I thought. So you can put your “act” on all day on your show but you don’t know jack of what happened. Clearly he did something that warranted this – beyond some consensual relationship,” one fan said.
“Folks, this is why you keep your mouth shut when you don’t know what you’re talking about,” another added.
“Let this be a lesson to ‘journalists’ to do the work in finding the facts of the story before giving hot take reactions,” another said.
Udoka reportedly had an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member. While the affair was originally reported as “consensual,” more recent reports indicate the Celtics head coach may have made “unwanted comments” toward the woman.
Udoka has been suspended for the entire 2022-23 season.