This past weekend, the Los Angeles Lakers honored the legendary Pat Riley with a statue outside Crypto.com Arena. But during the festivities, one of the biggest soundbites to come from the event was Riley suggesting that NBA coaches should go back to wearing a suit and tie for games. Well, count Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka as someone who is not a fan of the idea.
Prior to the Rockets’ game against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, Ime Udoka said that NBA coaches vote on whether they should wear suits and the overwhelming majority say no. During Udoka’s days as an assistant coach in the NBA, he used to wear suits.
“No thank you,” Udoka said. “I enjoyed it at the time, but the COVID year it obviously changed it. For comfort packing, less thinking, I think all of the above. They do a vote on the coaches every year and I think it’s 87 percent say no. About five say yes and the others don’t care.”
Udoka got his start in coaching as an assistant under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs in 2012. He was part of the Spurs’ staff until 2019 when he joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2019-20 season. He spent one more season in 2020-21 as an assistant with the Brooklyn Nets before getting his first head coaching job with the Boston Celtics ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first year as head coach, eventually falling to the Golden State Warriors in six games. He was let go from the Celtics in 2023 following a season-long suspension for violating team policies. He became head coach of the Rockets ahead of the 2023-24 season.
