Ime Sunday Udoka was born on August 9, 1977 in Portland, OR to Vitalis and Agnes Udoka. His father moved to the U.S. from Nigeria in 1970, and his mother was an American from Illinois. Udoka attended Portland's Jefferson High School. Udoka played for Utah State University Eastern and the University of San Francisco before transferring to Portland State University.
After going undrafted in the 2000 NBA draft, Udoka started his professional basketball career playing with Fargo-Moorhead Beez from 2000 to 2001. Following that, he played for a number of teams: Independiente (2001), the North Charleston Lowgators (2002–2003), the Adirondack Wildcats (2003), the Charleston Lowgators (2003–2004) who drafted him with 39th overall pick in the 2002 NBDL Draft. He then played for the Los Angeles Lakers (2004), the Fort Worth Flyers (2005–2006), the Lithuanian Žalgiris Kaunas, and was once again drafted in NBDL.
This time, he was drafted third overall by the Fort Worth Flyers in the 2005 NBDL Draft. Udoka averaged 17.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game with the Flyers. He moved to the New York Knicks (2006), and the Portland Trail Blazers (2006–2007), the San Antonio Spurs (2007–2009), returned to Portland, the Sacramento Kings, returned to San Antonio (2010-2011), the New Jersey Nets (2011), and lastly UCAM Murcia (2012) in Spain. Udoka was a player on the Nigerian National Team. At the 2006 FIBA World Championships, he led Nigeria in scoring, assists, and steals. Udoka also played for Nigeria in the 2005 and 2011 FIBA Africa Championships, winning a bronze medal in both tournaments.Â
He began his coaching career with the San Antonio Spurs (2012-2019), the Philadelphia 76ers (2019-2020), the Brooklyn Nets (2020–2021), and the Boston Celtics (2021–2023). He became the franchise's sixth African-American Head Coach, as well as the first head coach of African origin in NBA history. He coached the Houston Rockets (2023–present) and Udoka was named Western Conference Coach of the Month in March after the Rockets won 13 of their 15 games that month. In his first season with the team, the Rockets finished with a 41–41 record and barely missed the playoffs. During the 2024–2025 season, Udoka was named Western Conference Coach of the Month in January after the Rockets won 11 of their 15 games that month (NBACoaches).
