Image: two women's basketball teams play on a court
Longtime NBA assistant coach Phil Handy coached the Mist Basketball Club during the inaugural Unrivaled season.
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Longtime NBA assistant coach Phil Handy was prepared to take a year off. Then Unrivaled called.
Available for hire after the Los Angeles Lakers released him at the end of the 2024 NBA season, the new women's professional basketball league recruited the renowned player development trainer to serve as a head coach in its inaugural season.
With immense aspirations to become a head coach, Handy accepted the invitation. He led the Mist Basketball Club, which just missed the playoffs with a 5-9 record because of a point differential.
"Unrivaled gives me an opportunity to really dive a little deeper into the women's game, and the timing was just really good," Handy tells New Times.
"'I've been preparing to be a head coach for a long time," he adds. "Everyone is like, 'Oh, you are in Miami,' but I came out here for a reason. My focus has been on getting my coaching reps and making sure I'm giving my time and energy to the team. If I'm not at the gym, I'm at the house most of the time watching the film of our team or somebody that we play next."
Handy is known for training and developing star players, including the late five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving. He began his NBA career as a player development coach in 2011 and went on to win NBA titles with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, the Toronto Raptors in 2019, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
Handy wants to use the Unrivaled coaching opportunity to prove he can lead a team.
"When you are a head coach," he says, "you have the opportunity to make decisions every day — how are your practices, what are you working on, putting together a game plan and building out what you want your culture to look like. We talk about the players getting live reps, but it's good for us as coaches, too, to get live reps."
Handy had experience training women's basketball players before he assumed his current position. These included Unrivaled founder and two-time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart, Mist guard Jewell Loyd, and University of Southern California star Juju Watkins.
But it's Handy's first time being involved in women's basketball on a professional coaching level. He says he's spent time catching up with Vinyl Basketball Club coach and former WNBA All-Star Teresa Weatherspoon.
Says Weatherspoon, "Anything that he does is functional and applicable. When those young ladies get out on the floor and they apply it, the beautiful part is being able to see the magic happen, and the magic is the results."
Mist forward Aaliyah Edwards has seen the magic. She secured a $50,000 prize as runner-up in the Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament. The Washington Mystics' budding star entered the tournament tied for the worst odds to win, according to FanDuel.
"I came to Miami early and got a couple of individual sessions with [Coach Handy] before we started team practices," she says. "Ever since then, I feel like I've grown so much in ball handling, angles of attacking the basket, and footwork. He's been really instrumental in helping me with my skill work."
The 1-on-1 tournament provided a mid-season break for Unrivaled teams. The Mist entered the break 2-6. At the time, Handy said he wasn't concerned about his team's record given four of their six losses were decided by five points or less. Handy's focus was on how much his players had improved.
"We've struggled in our games, but I know that every one of our ladies on this team has gotten better since they've been here," Handy says. "For me, that's the biggest storyline here — making sure the ladies on my team and anybody I come in contact with have a sense of, 'I got better while I was at Unrivaled,' and I'm not losing sight of that."
That perspective enables him to embrace the present moment.
"Some people may look and wonder, 'Why did Phil make this decision? He's got a long-standing career in the NBA, he's had a lot of success.' But everybody's journey is different, and I'm in control of my journey," Handy says. "For me, I don't look at coaching in Unrivaled as a step backward or a step to the side; it's just a different part of my journey. So I'm giving these ladies the same amount of energy and attention I would give to any NBA team."