Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have spoken publicly for the first time since Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the 2022-23 season after having an illicit relationship with a team staff member.
“It’s a lot to process,” Tatum said at media day on Monday. “It’s just a lot if I’m being honest… you’re still trying to process it all knowing we start practice tomorrow.”
When asked how he first heard of the news, Tatum said, “Sh*t on Twitter, like everybody else.”
Tatum has not spoken with Udoka since the scandal broke, and neither has his star teammate Jaylen Brown.
“No conversations as far as me on my end,” Brown said. “Initial reactions, we were all shocked what was going on, a little confused, but a lot of the information wasn’t being shared with us or members of the team, so you can’t really comment on it.”
Marcus Smart, meanwhile, made a point of defending his old coach.
“Nobody died, so we didn’t lose anything,” Smart said. “I still love Ime as a person and as a coach. It’s just something unfortunate that has happened to him. It doesn’t take away anything from him as a coach, from how he turned this team around.”