Phil Handy Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavericks Hiring Popeye Jones, Phil Handy As Assistants

July 9th, 2025 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks are adding two more veteran assistants to their revamped coaching staff, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who reports (via Twitter) that Popeye Jones and Phil Handy have agreed to roles under head coach Jason Kidd.

A former NBA forward, Jones hasn’t worked with Kidd since they went into coaching but actually played alongside him for two seasons in Dallas from 1994-96. Since transitioning to coaching in 2007, Jones has spent time the Mavericks as a player development coach (2007-10) and with the Nets (2010-13), Pacers (2013-20), Sixers (2020-21), and Nuggets (2021-25) as an assistant.

Jones will be Kidd’s No. 3 assistant coach and will focus on defense, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com.

Handy, meanwhile, is coming to the Mavericks after previous stints with the Lakers (2011-13), Cavaliers (2013-18), Raptors (2018-19), and Lakers again (2019-24). He and Kidd were both members of Frank Vogel‘s staff in Los Angeles when the Lakers won a championship in 2020.

According to Afseth, the expectation is that Handy will take over the player developmental role previously held by God Shammgod, who left Dallas this offseason for Orlando.

Kidd’s top assistants last season were Sean Sweeney, Alex Jensen, and Jared Dudley, but they’ve since departed for San Antonio, the University of Utah, and Denver, respectively. Two former NBA head coaches, Vogel and Jay Triano, have since been tabbed as Kidd’s new top two assistants, with shooting specialist Mike Penberthy also coming aboard.

Mavericks Notes: Jones, Prosper, Broghamer, Handy, Russell

July 3rd, 2025 at 10:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks have shown interest in re-signing big man Kai Jones, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com, but they’ll have to perform some roster gymnastics to make that happen.

The Mavericks will have 16 players on standard contracts once they re-sign Dante Exum, who was a higher priority for Dallas’ front office than Jones. The former Hornets center appeared in a dozen games with Dallas after the Clippers waived him at the beginning of March.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper is considered to have the most tradable contract among the Mavericks’ expendable margin players, Afseth adds. He’s earning about $3MM in 2025/26 and isn’t owed any guaranteed money beyond the coming season.

We have more on the Mavericks:

Josh Broghamer will coach the Mavs’ Summer League team, a roster that includes top pick Cooper Flagg, Afseth reports. Jared Dudley has coached the Summer League team in recent years, but appears on the verge of finding work elsewhere.
Updating his own report that Phil Handy is a candidate for the Mavericks’ coaching staff, Marc Stein tweets that the Knicks also have interest in Handy for Mike Brown‘s new staff in New York. Handy worked for Brown with the Lakers and Cavaliers.
After Stein mentioned Mike Penberthy as a potential target for the Mavericks’ staff on Wednesday, Afseth classifies the Mavs’ interest in the veteran assistant as “serious,” labeling him a strong candidate to join Jason Kidd‘s staff. Penberthy, who was an assistant alongside Kidd with the Lakers during their championship season, is known as a shooting coach and has earned praise from Mavericks star Anthony Davis for helping him improve as a shooter, Afseth adds.
The Mavs were looking for a player to bridge the gap until Kyrie Irving returns from his knee injury and D’Angelo Russell can fit the bill, Christian Clark of The Athletic writes. Russell is coming off one of his worst seasons but he played well for the Lakers the previous year. Russell agreed to a two-year deal in the $12MM range, a very reasonable price for a rotation player.

Coaching Rumors: Knicks, Borrego, Shammgod, Magic, Mavs, More

July 2nd, 2025 at 8:49pm CST by Luke Adams

After being denied permission to speak to five NBA head coaches already under contract with rival teams, the Knicks shifted their focus to Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins, with Jenkins falling behind after “projecting less enthusiasm for the job,” writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.

The team spoke to other candidates, including James Borrego and Micah Nori, and Ian Begley of SNY.tv confirms that South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley did, in fact, formally interview for the job as well. However, as Begley writes, the search was always expected to result in the Knicks hiring an experienced NBA head coach.

The Knicks ultimately decided Brown was their man in large part because they believe he’ll bring “leadership and collaboration” to the organization, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday. Casey Powell (aka CP The Fanchise) of Knicks Fan TV (Twitter link) notes that the club is also confident in Brown’s ability to maximize the talent on the roster.

While Brown won’t be forced to retain any of the assistants who worked under Tom Thibodeau, the expectation is that a few will be back, according to Begley, who specifically identifies Rick Brunson, Darren Ermann, Mark Bryant, and Maurice Cheeks as strong candidates to remain in New York.

Brown is targeting Borrego for his lead assistant role, viewing him as an ideal offensive coordinator, Begley writes. However, as Marc Stein of The Stein Line notes (via Twitter), the Pelicans want to keep Borrego as their associate head coach and don’t necessarily have to let him leave for what would be a lateral move in terms of his title.

According to Stein (Twitter link), New Orleans previously denied permission to the Nuggets, who wanted to speak to Borrego about their lead assistant role under David Adelman.

Here are a few more coaching-related notes and rumors from around the NBA:

As expected, Mavericks player development coach God Shammgod has reached a deal with the Magic to become an assistant on Jamahl Mosley‘s staff, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Rumors about Orlando’s interest in Shammgod, who had been in Dallas since 2019, had circulated since mid-June.
With Shammgod departing, keep an eye on Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy as possible candidates to join the Mavericks‘ staff under Jason Kidd, according to Stein (Twitter links). Both Handy and Penberthy were part of the Lakers’ staff alongside Kidd when Frank Vogel – Dallas’ new lead assistant – was the head coach in Los Angeles.
Omar Cooper Jr., the twin brother of former NBA guard Sharife Cooper and the son of Ace Bailey‘s agent Omar Cooper, is serving as a guest coach for the Jazz during Summer League, per Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Cooper Jr. is looking to get into coaching after wrapping up his college playing career at McNeese State this past season.
In announcing its 15-man roster for EuroBasket 2025, the Spanish national team confirmed that former Raptors assistant Sergio Scariolo will be stepping down from his role as Spain’s head coach after the event. BasketNews.com has the story, along with Spain’s roster, which includes Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama.

And-Ones: TNT Lawsuit, Diamond Sports, Handy, Johnson, More

November 15th, 2024 at 11:12am CST by Luke Adams

Rumors began to circulate on Wednesday that the NBA and TNT Sports have opened settlement talks in an attempt to resolve the lawsuit Warner Bros. Discovery filed against the NBA earlier this year, according to Michael McCarthy and A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports.

“I know [both sides] want to solve this,” one source told Front Office Sports.

“It has to be soon,” another source said. “They don’t want to let it drag on.”

Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT’s parent company, sued the NBA after the league refused to recognize its matching rights and argued that TNT’s offer didn’t match the specific terms of the league’s deal with Amazon Prime. A settlement has always been considered the most likely outcome, since neither the NBA nor TNT is believed to be seeking a lengthy trial process that results in confidential details becoming public.

As McCarthy and Perez note, settlements are typically financial, but it’s not out of the question that the league could award TNT a smaller broadcast rights package after leaving the network out of its latest round of media rights deals with Disney, NBC, and Amazon.

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of the FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports), will emerge from bankruptcy following a federal judge’s ruling on Thursday, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. Viewers will have the option of subscribing on a season-long, monthly, or per-game basis to their local Diamond Sports network to watch NBA broadcasts, per The Associated Press. Diamond, which broadcasts games for 13 NBA teams, will also offer subscriptions through Amazon Prime Video, though the exact details of that arrangement have yet to be announced, Drellich adds.
Phil Handy, a veteran NBA assistant coach who won titles with the Lakers, Raptors, and Cavaliers, will be the head coach of a team in Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 professional women’s basketball league debuting in January, says Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Handy became a coaching free agent in the spring when the Lakers fired all of their assistants after letting go of head coach Darvin Ham. Handy is one of six Unrivaled head coaches announced on Friday by the league (Twitter link).
In the wake of rumors that Anadolu Efes wing Stanley Johnson is exploring other professional options, the former NBA lottery pick stated on Twitter that he’s “very happy” with Efes and doesn’t plan on leaving the Istanbul-based club anytime soon. Johnson has had a very modest role in EuroLeague competition so far, averaging just 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game across seven outings.
John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a closer look at 10 relatively unheralded role players who have gotten off to strong starts this season, including Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, Grizzlies big man Jay Huff, and Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome, among others.

Western Notes: Kyrie, Lakers, Hardaway, Mann, Adelman, Warriors

May 3rd, 2024 at 8:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked after Game 5 of the Mavericks‘ first-round playoff series whether he considered joining the Lakers and reuniting with former teammate LeBron James when he reached free agency last offseason, Kyrie Irving smiled and said that “everything was considered,” according to Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports.

“He’s a great friend of mine, a great brother of mine,” Irving told Rohlin. “We obviously played together [in Cleveland]. Everybody knows our history. But there were so many different factors in between. When it comes to business decisions, you have to ask the GMs, the presidents why certain things didn’t work out.”

The Lakers were rumored as a possible suitor for Irving at the February 2023 trade deadline before he was traded to Dallas. They were mentioned again when Kyrie became a free agent, though by that point Los Angeles seemed more focused on retaining its own free agents. For his part, Irving said he’s happy with his decision to re-sign with the Mavericks.

“I know I can speak for myself that I’m grateful someone took a chance on me,” he said. “Dallas welcomed me with open arms. For me, it wasn’t time to think about the ‘what ifs.’ It was time for me to put my best foot forward. That’s what I did. It’s hard to think of the ‘what ifs,’ the allure, the thoughts of it.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

The Mavericks will once again be without Tim Hardaway Jr. on Friday, according to the team (Twitter link). Hardaway will miss his fourth consecutive game due to a right ankle sprain. The Clippers, meanwhile, have upgraded Terance Mann (right lower leg contusion) from questionable to available, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Mann averaged just 3.5 points in 21.7 minutes per contest in the two games Kawhi Leonard played, but has scored in double-digits and logged at least 31 minutes in each of the three games Leonard missed — Kawhi remains unavailable for Game 6, as previously reported.
In addition to firing head coach Darvin Ham, the Lakers have let go of all their assistants, clearing the way for the new head coach to build an entirely new staff, sources tell Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). That group of new coaching free agents includes veteran assistant Phil Handy, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Woike of The Los Angeles Times and Khobi Price of The Orange County Register each take a look at some potential candidates to replace Ham as the Lakers‘ head coach. Both reporters cite Nuggets assistant David Adelman, with Woike writing that Adelman has fans within Los Angeles’ front office.
Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic identifies eight potential big-name trade targets the Warriors could pursue this offseason. Golden State always aims high, but most of the names on the list, including Kevin Durant, Lauri Markkanen, and Paul George, look like long shots, while the most viable option – such as Zach LaVine – doesn’t seem like a great fit.

L.A. Notes: Harden, Clippers, Diabate, Lakers, Ham

January 5th, 2024 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

After losing their first six games following the acquisition of James Harden, the Clippers have since won 18 of 23, including the last four in a row, to improve their record to 21-12. With the team firing on all cylinders, it hasn’t been lost on Harden that the critics who were decrying his fit in early November have been quiet as of late.

“Fit is great, I knew that from the beginning and it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to be a part of this,” Harden said, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “Obviously it didn’t start off well. It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way, and now those people that were talking are nowhere to be found. Like, literally nowhere to be found. Which, we knew that was going to happen.”

Viewed as a title threat when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George teamed up in Los Angeles in 2019, the Clippers have won just three playoff series in the past four seasons as Leonard and George both dealt with injuries. But with the two forwards healthy this season and Harden bringing a new element to the roster, they’re looking like a legitimate contender again.

Asked by Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports what winning a championship would mean for his legacy, Harden said it would be “very important.”

“It’s been like that. I always want to give myself a chance to win. I know how very difficult that is,” Harden said. “There’s only one team standing at the end of the year. So, I’ll continue to keep trying to do that.”

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:

Clippers two-way center Moussa Diabate, who was hampered in December by a hip issue, appeared in his first NBA game in over a month on Monday, logging three garbage-time minutes in a victory over Miami. However, it sounds like he won’t play again for a while — the team announced that Diabate, who had six blocks in a G League game on Tuesday, is out due to a metacarpal fracture in his right hand, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The club has yet to provide a recovery timeline.
With the Lakers slumping, Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group wonders why the team hasn’t turned to the lineups that were successful last season, including either Jarred Vanderbilt or Rui Hachimura alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell. Injuries have been a problem, but the club hasn’t used either of those lineups even when everyone has been available — those two groups have played just three total minutes together in 2023/24, says Swanson.
While head coach Darvin Ham is clearly facing pressure to turn the Lakers‘ season around, a “high-ranking” team source disputed the idea that he’s on the verge of being fired, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Amick adds that assistant Phil Handy is frequently brought up as the possible next man up if the Lakers do eventually decide to make an in-season coaching change.

Pacific Notes: Ayton, Williams, Nunn, Lakers’ Staff, Vezenkov

September 27th, 2022 at 10:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns matched the Pacers’ four-year, $133MM offer sheet for Deandre Ayton but there’s still some lingering tensions between the center and coach Monty Williams. Ayton said on Tuesday he still hasn’t spoken with Williams since he was benched during the Game 7 conference semifinals loss to the Mavericks in the spring.

“I haven’t spoken to him at all, ever since the game,” Ayton told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and other media members. Asked what he plans to say to Williams when they do speak, Ayton replied, “I can show him better than I can tell him. It’s life. Nobody cares about the uncomfortable nature of it, it’s how you perform and what you bring to the table. What’s said is already said.”

Williams believes he’ll be able to mend fences with Ayton.

“I think 1-on-1s are always needed between guys I’ve been around for awhile,” Williams said. “Some guys need it and some guys don’t. I’ll identify that as the season progresses. I’ll talk to everybody as I always do during camp and it won’t be an issue at all.”

If things can’t be worked out, Phoenix will have to wait before finding a new home for Ayton. He’s not eligible to be dealt until January 15.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

After missing all of last season due to a knee injury, Lakers guard Kendrick Nunn was a full participant in the team’s first practice on Tuesday, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets. “Getting the rhythm back and feeling good on the floor with no injuries, feeling pain-free and able to play is everything for me,” he said. “So today was a good day for me.”
The Lakers officially announced Darvin Ham‘s coaching staff in a press release. Chris Jent, Jordan Ott, J.D. DuBois, Schuyler Rimmer and Zach Peterson are the newcomers, joining Phil Handy, Dru Anthrop and Jon Pastorek.
The Kings expressed some interest in European star Sasha Vezenkov this offseason but he decided to stay at least for one more season with Greece’s Olympiacos. Vezenkov, a 2017 second-round pick, believes he made the right move, according to Achilleas Mavrodontis of Eurohoops.net. “It was the first summer in a long time that there was some solid talk, and the Kings showed interest,” he said. “Based on the information, what I heard, and what I had on the table, I decided that the best option for me was Olynpiacos. I don’t look back. I always stand by my decisions. I’m trying to prove that it was the best choice.”

Lakers Notes: Anthony, Reaves, Bryant, Westbrook, Handy

July 27th, 2022 at 7:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Carmelo Anthony may return to the Lakers for another season, but a decision isn’t expected quickly, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy. Like many NBA veterans, Anthony’s status is on hold while teams wait to see what happens with this summer’s trade rumors.

“They have a lot to sort out obviously,” an unidentified general manager said of the Lakers. “But as more things get set, they’ll probably get back around to bringing him in. It’s just, at this point, you don’t know what might happen with (Russell) Westbrook and whether you might need to take on players, so you see that around the league a lot — teams have 10, 11, 12 players signed and there’s no hurry to fill in the last spots until you see how the other stuff plays out.”

A return to the Knicks has been mentioned as a possibility for Anthony, and Deveney sees the Nets as a potential landing spot as well. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving reportedly wanted Brooklyn to sign Anthony when they joined the team in 2019, and adding him to the roster might be a way to mollify them if they’re both still with the Nets when training camp opens. The GM also mentions the Warriors, who would give Anthony his best chance to win a ring before he retires.

There’s more on the Lakers:

Austin Reaves has a strong case for a starting spot heading into camp, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Reaves will need to improve his outside shooting, but he can serve as a secondary ball-handler and his defensive abilities make him an ideal backcourt mate for Westbrook, Buha adds. He also notes that Thomas Bryant could become a starter if L.A. is determined to play Anthony Davis at power forward rather than center.
Westbrook will face a “moment of truth” if the Lakers can’t find a way to trade him, states Dan Devine of The Ringer. If Westbrook plays another season in L.A., he’ll either have to adapt to a different role or get out of the way of his star teammates, Devine adds.
Assistant coach Phil Handy recently signed an extension with the Lakers, tweets Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Handy had been heading into the final year of his contract.

Three Lakers Assistants Won’t Be Retained; Phil Handy To Stay

June 7th, 2022 at 12:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

12:58pm: The Lakers will keep Phil Handy, who is considered one of the league’s best assistant coaches, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Handy accepted Ham’s offer to remain with the team.

11:56am: As Darvin Ham begins to build his coaching staff with the Lakers, assistants David Fizdale, Mike Penberthy and John Lucas III have been told that they won’t return next season, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Ham has talked to several potential candidates about joining him in L.A. and that process is expected to continue for weeks, adds ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). A report Monday indicated that Rasheed Wallace is among the names being considered.

Fizdale, a longtime assistant and a former head coach with the Grizzlies and Knicks, joined the Lakers last season. He has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Quin Snyder in Utah.

Lucas was also in his first year with the team, while Penberthy joined Frank Vogel‘s staff when he was hired in 2019 and was promoted to a front-of-the-bench role last offseason.

Stein’s Latest: Pinson, Boban, Hornets, Connelly, Handy

May 30th, 2022 at 8:41am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks are “determined” to find space on their roster for Theo Pinson next season, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article. Pinson appeared in just 19 regular season games in 2021/22 and wasn’t eligible to play in the postseason, but the Mavs view the 26-year-old wing as an important part of the team dynamic in Dallas, Stein explains, noting that center Boban Marjanovic falls into this category too.

Marjanovic has a $3.5MM contract for next season, so the Mavericks will have no problem keeping him around if they want to, but Pinson’s two-way deal is set to expire, making him an unrestricted free agent. Since he’ll have four years of NBA service under his belt, Pinson will no longer be eligible to sign a two-way contract in 2022/23 — he’d have to get a standard contract and be part of the 15-man roster if the Mavs want to retain him.

Pinson was viewed as the unofficial ring leader of the Mavs’ bench mob that earned the team $175K in fines during the playoffs due to its “bench decorum” violations.

Here’s more from Stein:

With Darvin Ham off the board, it’s unclear which head coaching candidate is the frontrunner for the Hornets‘ job. However, Stein says there was some “fresh buzz” over the weekend that if Mike D’Antoni is hired by Charlotte, he could bring former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen along with him as an assistant. Stein reported a couple weeks ago that D’Antoni was in a strong position to land the job, but later cast some doubt on that report.
Sources with knowledge of the situation tell Stein that the “equity” aspect of Tim Connelly‘s deal with the Timberwolves has been overstated. Stein’s understanding is that Connelly’s contract includes a bonus based on the value of the franchise increasing during his five-year contract, but he doesn’t actually own a stake in the team.
It remains to be seen whether veteran assistant Phil Handy will return to the Lakers under Ham, according to Stein, who believes the Nets could be a fit for Handy if he doesn’t stay in L.A. Handy worked well with Kyrie Irving during their Cleveland days, and the Nets have a need on the player development side following Adam Harrington‘s exit, Stein observes.