Kez Sunday Udoka is an American celebrity child best known as the son of actress Nia Long and NBA head coach Ime Udoka.
He drew public attention through his parents’ high-profile relationship, and later through the 2022 scandal that led to their split and a widely covered custody settlement.
Who is Kez Sunday Udoka?
Kez Sunday Udoka is the only child of Nia Long and Ime Udoka. His mother is a well-known actress with a career spanning more than three decades in Hollywood.
His father is a former NBA player who now coaches the Houston Rockets.
Nia Long and Ime Udoka began dating in 2010 after a mutual friend introduced them in Boston.
Long was there filming a pilot for an NBC production, and Udoka was playing for the Sacramento Kings against the Boston Celtics at the time.
Their son Kez arrived in November 2011, just a year into their relationship. The couple got engaged in 2015 but never married.
Long told Essence magazine that marriage was not a priority for her. Their relationship of 13 years came to a public end in December 2022 following a workplace scandal involving Udoka at the Boston Celtics.
Despite their breakup, both parents have focused on co-parenting Kez. In her October/November 2025 cover story for The Cut, Long said she and Udoka are in a “good place” and have found mutual respect as parents.
She wrote that she traveled with Kez and Ime that same summer: “It was really beautiful because we’ve had a very public journey that has found its way to peace and understanding.”
Nia Long: Kez’s Mother
Nia Long is one of Kez’s two famous parents. Born on October 30, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York, she grew up in Los Angeles and attended Westchester High School before studying briefly at Santa Monica City College.
Her film career started with her role in John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood in 1991, which starred Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fishburne.
That film earned two Oscar nominations and helped launch several young careers, including Long’s.
Long became widely recognized for her recurring role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1991 to 1995.
She then moved into a string of successful films across the mid-to-late 1990s: Friday (1995), Love Jones (1997), Soul Food (1997), and The Best Man (1999), in which she played Jordan Armstrong.
That role earned her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture.
She continued her television work on the crime drama Third Watch from 2003 to 2005, playing Officer Sasha Monroe.
That role earned her two more NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.
Later credits include Big Momma’s House (2000) and its 2006 sequel, and appearances in Empire (2017) and NCIS: Los Angeles from 2017 to 2018.
Nia Long is also the mother of Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, born November 26, 2000, from her earlier relationship with actor Massai Z. Dorsey. Kez’s older half-brother is in his mid-twenties as of 2026.
Ime Udoka: Kez’s Father
Ime Sunday Udoka was born on August 9, 1977, in Portland, Oregon.
His father was from Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state, which made Udoka eligible for Nigerian citizenship and allowed him to represent the Nigerian national team during his playing career.
He attended Jefferson High School in Portland before playing college basketball at the College of Eastern Utah, the University of San Francisco, and Portland State University.
Undrafted in 2000, Udoka built his NBA career across several years on the fringe of the league, playing for teams including the Portland Trail Blazers from 2006 to 2007 and the San Antonio Spurs from 2007 to 2009.
His coaching career began in 2012 as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich. He was part of San Antonio’s 2014 NBA championship staff.
He then moved through assistant roles with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets before the Boston Celtics named him head coach in 2021.
In his only season with the Celtics, Udoka led the team to a 51-31 regular season record and guided them to the NBA Finals in 2022.
The Celtics suspended him that September after an investigation into an improper consensual relationship with a female team staff member. The Celtics permanently dismissed him in February 2023.
In April 2023, the Houston Rockets hired Udoka as head coach. He guided the Rockets to a 52-30 record and their first playoff appearance since 2020 in the 2024-25 season.
In May 2025, the Rockets extended his contract on an eight-figure annual deal, confirming their long-term commitment to him.
Early Life of Kez Sunday Udoka
Kez Sunday Udoka was born on November 7, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up with his mother as his primary caregiver and has been shielded from much of the media attention that surrounds both of his parents.
Long has spoken warmly about her approach to raising Kez. She has emphasized healing and keeping co-parenting positive for his sake.
“The most important gift you can give your kids is to heal your trauma,” she told The Cut in 2025.
Kez has an older half-brother, Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, through his mother. The two share the same mother but have different fathers.
He grew up as a fan of the Boston Celtics basketball team, where his father served as head coach.
Kez Sunday Udoka Age / Birthday
Kez Sunday Udoka is 14 years old as of 2026, born on November 7, 2011. His zodiac sign is Scorpio, a sign often associated with intensity and strong family bonds. He will turn 15 in November 2026.
Kez Sunday Udoka Ethnicity and Nationality
Kez holds American nationality, born in Los Angeles, California. His background is mixed, drawing from his mother’s Barbadian, Grenadian, and African American heritage and his father’s Nigerian-American roots.
That combination makes him part of a richly multicultural family.
Kez Sunday Udoka Parents’ Relationship
Nia Long and Ime Udoka met in 2010 through a mutual friend when both happened to be in Boston at the same time.
They went on to share more than a decade together, getting engaged in 2015 and welcoming Kez in 2011.
Their relationship became a major news story in September 2022 when the Boston Celtics announced they had suspended Udoka for “violations of team policies.”
Reports confirmed that an improper consensual relationship with a female team staff member was at the heart of the investigation.
Long released a statement in December 2022 confirming the relationship had ended. In August 2023, Long sought primary custody of Kez.
The custody matter settled in early 2024. A court ruled that Long would have sole physical custody with reasonable visitation for Udoka as his schedule permits.
Udoka agreed to pay $32,500 per month in child support, reflecting a court finding that his monthly disposable income exceeded $400,000, while Long’s stood at roughly $20,000.
By 2025, the former couple had reached what Long described as a place of mutual respect.
In her October/November 2025 interview with The Cut, she wrote: “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.”
Kez Sunday Udoka Net Worth
Kez Sunday Udoka’s exact net worth is not publicly disclosed. As a teenager, he has no independent income or professional career.
His mother Nia Long has an estimated net worth of $5 million as of 2026. Her income comes from her acting career across film and television, including decades of work in Hollywood productions.
His father Ime Udoka signed an eight-figure annual contract extension with the Houston Rockets in May 2025, placing him among the highest-paid coaches in the NBA.
Kez benefits from the financial support provided through his parents’ custody arrangement and lives with his mother in California.
Kez Sunday Udoka Social Media
Kez Sunday Udoka does not maintain any publicly confirmed social media accounts. At 14, he stays out of the public eye, and neither of his parents has shared his personal profile, if one exists.
Nia Long shares occasional glimpses of their family life on her own Instagram, giving fans limited but warm views of how Kez is growing up.
Conclusion
Kez Sunday Udoka grows up connected to two high-profile worlds: his mother’s Hollywood career and his father’s NBA coaching career.
His parents’ commitment to co-parenting, despite a very public falling-out, puts him at the center of one of the more closely watched celebrity family stories of the past few years.