Lakers Make Stunning Decision on Future of Darvin Ham's Coaching Staff

Is a rebuild coming?

Mar 22, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (L) talks with assistant coach Phil Handy. / Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers have taken over the Friday afternoon news cycle. And we are all witnesses.

After the news dropped that, as expected, head coach Darvin Ham was being let go following a five-game first round defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, L.A. has apparently wasted no time in cleaning house elsewhere.

According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers have now fired all of Ham's bench, including longtime assistant coach and player development trainer Phil Handy, who has worked under four different, nonconsecutive Los Angeles head coaching regimes.

The departures of the other assistants doesn't come as much of a surprise, but team president Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss' decision to ditch Handy, too, is a bit stunning.

Handy first served under Mike Brown from 2011-12 and his replacement, Mike D'Antoni, from 2012-13, during the end of the Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol era. After winning championships with the LeBron James-era Cleveland Cavaliers and the Nick Nurse-era Toronto Raptors, Handy returned to L.A. under head coach Frank Vogel, winning his third title immediately in 2019-20. Even after Vogel was let go in 2022, Handy stuck around. He had been considered a potential fit as a Darvin Ham replacement ever since Darvin Ham was hired, frankly (he had a bumpy start with Russell Westbrook in 2022), so it's surprising to see that he, too, is out.

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