Nia Long has said that she and her ex Ime Udoka have ‘a lot of mutual respect’ for each other following their widely-publicized split in 2022.
Udoka, formerly the head coach of the Boston Celtics, was suspended and ultimately fired by the team for having an improper relationship with a female staffer.
He and Long, who is known for her many acting roles over the years, later split over the affair following 13 years together.
However, Long – who shares son Kez, 13, with Udoka – said that the parents are ‘good’ after spending time together as a family this past summer.
‘This summer, I traveled with my youngest son and my ex, Ime. We had a great time. I’ve never walked that much in my life. But it was really beautiful because we’ve had a very public journey that has found its way to peace and understanding. And there’s a lot of mutual respect that we have for each other,’ Long told The Cut.
‘The most important gift you can give your kids is to heal your trauma. I don’t talk much about my personal life ’cause it’s no one’s business, but every now and then people speculate things on social media and it’s like me and Coach are good. I hope he wins. He deserves to win. He’s really great at what he does. We can have experiences with our son and make him the priority.’
Nia Long says that she and Ime Udoka have ‘mutual respect’ for each other following their split
Udoka and Long are pictured with their son Kez (center) and her son Massai Dorsey II (far right)
Udoka led Boston to the NBA Finals in his only season in charge of the Celtics
Following their split, Long initially requested full custody of Kez, though she and Udoka settled on joint custody, with the coach agreeing to pay $32,500 a month in child support, as TMZ reported.
Udoka, who led the Celtics to an NBA Finals appearance in his first and only season in charge, was suspended by the Celtics for the entire 2022-23 season for the improper relationship.
He was ultimately let go for good when Joe Mazzulla was named the head coach on a permanent basis in February 2023.
Udoka was heavily linked to the vacant Brooklyn Nets job following Steve Nash’s firing in the fall of 2022, but ultimately landed with the Houston Rockets the following April.
As for his relationship with Long, she acknowledged to The Cut that there’s still healing to be done and understanding to be had’ between the pair, but that ‘the past is the past.’
‘I’m not going to carry burdensome energy with me because that just transfers to my children and it transfers to everything else in my life. I’m proud of myself,’ she said.
Long and the ex-couple’s son, Kez, moved back to Los Angeles after Udoka was suspended
Udoka has since surfaced with the Houston Rockets, who handed him a long-term extension this year
‘I think we’re proud of each other as the parents of Kez, that we’re able to make this an annual thing and commit to these last sweet years of him being in grade school and high school before he goes off to college. We’re both going to be standing there watching him graduate.’
Long also has an older son, Massai, 22, from a previous marriage, and has spoken before about the toll the ordeal had on him.
‘I think my older son saw me trying to keep the family together,’ she told rapper Jeezy on his YouTube channel.
‘But I had to come to a place where loving myself was bigger and more important than saving anybody.’
In his second season with Houston, Udoka led the Rockets to a 52-30 record – the second-best mark in the Western Conference.
He signed a long-term extension in June worth at least $10million per year, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.
