It’s been a tumultuous year for movie star Nia Long after her longtime relationship with Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka came to a screeching halt when it was revealed he was having an affair with a coworker. But as it appears, the Love Jones actress is starting a new chapter.
In a recent Instagram post, the actress shows her 3.9 million followers what appears to be a kitchen in a new house. She captions the post: “Thankful for the gift of new places and spaces.” She has since deleted the post.
The post comes on the heels of a scandal that rocked both Hollywood and the NBA after her fiancé was rumored to be in a relationship with a Celtics staffer. The mistress, who has been identified as Kathleen Nimmo Lynch, according to the Daily Mail, is a mother of three who just began working for the basketball team as a team service manager. Meanwhile, Long and Udoka have been together since 2010 and share a child, Kez Udoka, 11.
“The Boston Celtics announced today that the team has suspended Head Coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies. A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date. The suspension takes effect immediately,” the Celtics said in a statement at the time the news broke.
The story was one that garnered national interest among sports enthusiasts across the country, including that of ESPN’s Malika Andrews, who called foul on remarks from sports commentator Stephen A. Smith during a tense exchange on his popular show First Take. Smith has shared strong views on his frustration about the suspension of Ukoda.
In September, he vehemently concluded that it was unfair to suspend Udoka, while not suspending the woman he had an affair with. He later doubled down on his remarks stating: “only he is in violation of the company policy? The woman who elected to have a consensual relationship with him is not in violation?”
After his rant, Andrews phoned in to refute his argument. “Stephen A., with all due respect, this is not about pointing the finger. Stop,” Andrews challenged. “What became apparent to me in this press conference is that we do not have all the information here. It was frustrating, to me, that the Celtics declined to elaborate or give more specifics about what exactly the rule-breaking was that led us to this point.”
She continued: “The fact that we are sitting here debating whether somebody else should have been suspended or not, we are not here, Stephen A., to further blame women.”
To defend his position, Smith, who appeared visibly flustered expressed discontent by stating: “First of all, let me be very clear. I don’t appreciate where you’re going with that, I’m not blaming anybody but Ime Udoka,” said Smith. “The fact of the matter is, he deserves to be fired if they were going to fire him. If you’re not going to fire him, then don’t fire him. My issue is all of this being publicized.”
