Longtime Lakers Assistant Coach Shares Farewell Message to LA Fans

A longtime Lakers assistant coach says his goodbyes to the Laker fanbase.

Nov 8, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) practices with assistant coach Phil Handy before playing against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Longtime Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy said his goodbyes to L.A. fans in a post he shared earlier this week. 

Handy, who was fired along with ex-head coach Darvin Ham and the rest of Ham's staff in early May, said his goodbyes to the Laker organization and their fans. 

"#lakernation long overdue… 5 years in the books and yall held me down from start to finish," wrote Handy. "The amount of love #lakeshow fans showed me over the years has been unreal! I will be forever grateful for the out pouring support yall showed the OG. We did the thing in 2020 and tried every year to compete for more. The business of basketball is not always easy or fair but you all know what I'm about with this game and any player I have I've ever worked with… @beyourowngoat … Yall know what it is." 

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A post shared by Phil Handy (@thereal94feetofgame)

Many fans hoped that the Lakers would bring Handy back to work under new head coach JJ Redick; however, as Redick started to hire his assistants, that dream started to die slowly. 

Handy worked well with the players on the team and had great chemistry with many of them, so it was a puzzling decision when the team decided to cut ties with Handy. 

The 53-year-old was with the Lakers organization for the past five seasons from 2019-2024. With the Lakers, Handy has been a part of four playoff appearances, two Western Conference Finals, and one title, which came in 2020. 

In his career, Handy went to six consecutive NBA Finals, four with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2015–2018), one with the Toronto Raptors (2019), and one with the Lakers (2020). 

When the Lakers hired Handy in 2019, it was his second stint in Los Angeles. Handy served as the Lakers' player development coach under Mike Brown from 2011-13. 

Handy was an assistant with the Cavaliers for four years when LeBron James was on the team before he joined the Lakers in 2019. 

Now that Handy is a coaching free agent, where and who will hire him remains unclear. According to the sentiment he shared via Instagram, he doesn't appear to have any up-to-date plans; nonetheless, he is among the league's best and most well-known coaches today. 

The 53-year-old is a former player who played for the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers during the preseason and played most of his career overseas. He won a BBL championship in 2000. 

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