Report: Phil Handy to join Sixers staff as assistant coach

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 28: Assistant Coach Phil Handy of the Los Angeles Lakers talks to LeBron James #23 during the game against the Charlotte Hornets on December 28, 2023 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading a

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What is the story about?

ESPN’s Marc Spears has reported a coaching addition in Philadelphia. Phil Handy will be leaving the Dallas Mavericks and join the Sixers under Nick Nurse. Handy is familiar with a couple key members of the Sixers, he was an assistant in Nurse’s first season with the Toronto Raptors in 2018-19. He was also a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers (2013-2018) and Los Angeles Lakers (2019-2024) at the same time as LeBron James.

Handy had a brief stint as the head coach of Mist Basketball Club in the Unrivaled basketball league before returning to the NBA in the summer of 2025 to be an assistant for the Mavericks under Jason Kidd. With Kidd now gone a year later and Dusty May now running the ship in Dallas, Handy heads to a new team with familiar faces. An interesting non-Sixers nugget from Marc Stein is that all of Kidd’s staff has been turned over with the recent departures of Handy and Josh Broghamer.

This is now the second personnel move the Sixers organization has made in this later stage of the offseason. The team reportedly added Tommy Balcetis to the front office coming over from Denver. Now they add another well-known assistant coach to the bench and one with familiarity with both the head coach and one of their biggest stars.