Former Lakers Assistant Phil Handy Finally Becomes Head Coach

Matt Levine | Nov 15, 2024

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Lakers former assistant coach Phil Handy has finally become a head coach. He will become a first-time head coach for a team to be named in the first year of Unrivaled in 2025.

Unrivaled is a new three-on-three professional women's basketball league that will debut in Miami in January. The new league will have 36 women's basktball players playing on six teams.

This league was co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.

NBA insider Marc Spears reported the news on social media.

Former Lakers, Cavs and Raptors assistant coach Phil Handy will become a first-time head coach for a team be named team in the first season of Unrivaled in 2025, sources told @Andscape. Unrivaled is new 3-on-3 professional women's basketball league debuting in Miami in January.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) November 15, 2024

Unrivaled is set to begin on Jan. 17, 2025. Assignments for coaches, rosters, and schedules will be announced in a few days.

Handy has spent much time coaching stars such as LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. He understands how to get through to star players and it has helped his career immensely.

He had been with the Lakers for the past few seasons, helping them to win the title in 2020. The longtime assistant also won titles with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

He has been regarded as one of the more popular assistant coaches in the NBA but was let go this past offseason in all the coaching changes. Many within the Lakers organization were sad to see him leave when his departure was announced.

The veteran coach has been known to be a great development coach and multiple players around the league would work with him. He helped many guys transform their game into something stronger and he now finally gets his shot at being a head coach. One player he took an interest in with Los Angeles was forward Rui Hachimura.

Handy had been discussed in coaching circles for years but was never given a chance in the NBA. Many believed that he should have been in the conversation for the Lakers open job, either this offseason or in the 2022 summer after Frank Vogel was let go.

Nonetheless, Handy now will have a chance to show what he can do in this new league. If he does well here, NBA teams could end up calling him for interviews down the line.

But for now, the veteran coach will be focused on maximizing his time in this league. It's an exciting opportunity for the former Lakers assistant and he will put everything he has into it.

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