Phil Handy, Teresa Weatherspoon Among Inaugural HCs for New Unrivaled Basketball League

This fresh league is getting some big names.

Oct 24, 2024; Manhattan, NY, USA; New York Liberty legend Theresa Weatherspoon celebrates during the New York Liberty championship parade along the Canyon of Heroes in New York. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

Longtime NBA assistant coach Phil Handy and 2024 Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon are the two blockbuster names toplining a group of decorated names slated to lead the inaugural season of new hoops league Unrivaled Basketball.

Unrivaled is a three-on-three women's pro league, founded by WNBA All-Stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The league's first season will tip off on January 17, 2025 in Miami, Florida. In 2026, the plan is to take the show on the road across the U.S. The league is set up to be an alternative to international games for WNBA players.

Handy, a 6-foot-5 guard, went undrafted out of Hawaii in 1995, and played for the Omaha Racers, SLUC Nancy Basket, Grand Rapids Mackers, La Crosse Bobcats, Manchester Giants, Melbourne Tigers, and West Sydney Razorbacks from 1995-2002. As a coach, he served two stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, first from 2011-13 and then from 2019-24. He also was an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2013-18 and the Toronto Raptors from 2018-19. He's won three championships — with the Cavaliers in 2016, the Raptors in 2019, and the Lakers in 2020.

Weatherspoon, a 5-foot-8 guard, played abroad from 1988-96 following a decorated stint at Louisiana Tech, until the formation of the WNBA. She then suited up for the New York Liberty from 1997-2003 and Los Angeles Sparks in 2004. An eventual Hall of Famer, she was a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, a five-time All-Star, and a four-time All-WNBA Second Teamer. She was hired for her first head coaching gig with the Sky this past season, posting a 13-27 record. She was let go after the season, though the club essentially cratered after All-Star Angel Reese suffered a season-ending injury during the team's last month of the regular season.

The foundation is set👑 Unrivaled welcomes its inaugural HEAD COACHES🌴 pic.twitter.com/BflWga3lT2

— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) November 15, 2024

Adam Harrington was a 6-foot-5 NBA shooting guard for the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets from 2002-03 but spent the bulk of his pro career playing abroad. He suited up for Chinese club the Shaanxi Kylins, then-D League team the Columbus Riverdragons (now re-branded as the San Antonio Spurs G League affiliate, the Austin Spurs), Spanish squads CB Gran Canaria and Cantabria, Israeli team Bnei Hasharon, German club the Brose Baskets, Croatian team KK Cedevita, G League team the Tulsa 66ers (now the Oklahoma City Blue), French club Limoges CSP, then-D League team the Springfield Armor (now the Grand Rapids Gold, affiliate to the Denver Nuggets), and Polish team SKK Kotwica Kolobrzeg before hanging up his sneakers in 2010.

Harrington served as a shooting coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014-15, and then was an assistant on the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-22, for a variety of head coaches.

Nola Henry, DJ Sackmann, and Andrew Wade are the other announced head coaches.

Henry has served as a WNBA developmental coach under head coach Curt Miller for the Connecticut Sun and, more recently, the Los Angeles Sparks. Sackmann is a longtime NBA skills coach.

Wade has worked as an assistant coach in both the G League, with the Wizards' NBAGL affiliate the Capital City Go-Go, and WNBA squad the Washington Mystics.

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