The Houston Rockets are rewarding one of the figures behind the franchise's massive turnaround.
Head coach Ime Udoka has reportedly agreed to a long-term extension with the Rockets, which will make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NBA, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
The exact financial figures of the deal were not reported.
Udoka joined the Rockets ahead of the 2023-24 season after being suspended and ultimately fired by the Boston Celtics.
In his first year with the team, he led them to a 41-41 record. This past season, he increased their win total by 11 with a 52-30 record, good for second in the Western Conference — their best record since the 2018-19 campaign.
Their regular-season success, however, didn't translate to the playoffs, as they lost in seven games to the Golden State Warriors in the first round.
Under Udoka's guidance, the Rockets finished with the fourth-best defence in the NBA last season with a 110.8 defensive rating, and had the seventh-best net rating at +4.6.
The decision to extend Udoka is a major one in what should be an active off-season for the Rockets, who recently re-signed centre Steven Adams to a three-year, $39 million deal and are still weighing the $44.9 million team option on guard Fred VanVleet — they have until June 29 to make a decision.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.