Who is Ime Udoka? All you need to know about Houston Rockets’ head coach

Ime Udoka’s NBA coaching experience

The Rockets hired Udoka as their head coach before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season. In his debut season, he led the team to a 41-41 record.

While that wasn’t good enough to make the postseason, it was much better than the Rockets’ previous season record of 22-60.

Last season, Udoka and Co. ended the team’s four-year playoff drought as the Rockets finished with a 52-30 record, clinching the second seed in the conference.

To be fair, Udoka’s genius is no surprise as he led the Boston Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals during his sole year as the team’s head coach. Udoka landed that job after one-year stints as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.

But the biggest source of experience for coach Udoka is certainly his seven-year tenure with the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach on Gregg Popovich’s staff.

Ime Udoka has earned the trust of his Houston Rockets players and top brass

Considering how Udoka has transformed the Rockets in just two years, it would have been foolish to allow him to leave ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season.

With rumors of the New York Knicks trying to poach Udoka, the Rockets handed him a massive contract extension earlier this offseason.

Coming to what his players think of him, star center Alperen Sengun went gaga over Udoka by labeling him as one of the best coaches in the NBA right now.

Udoka has also influenced Jabari Smith Jr. to stay in Houston for as long as possible. However, fans are still waiting to see what Durant thinks of Udoka as the Slim Reaper will likely be his top star next season.