Unrivaled’s Phil Handy is swapping LeBron James for Breanna Stewart this winter

For six consecutive NBA Finals — from 2015 to 2021 — Phil Handy served as a fixture on the sidelines. Handy, a longtime NBA assistant who previously played professional basketball overseas, was there through it all.

First, he served as an assistant on the Cleveland Cavaliers that won it all in 2016. Then, he was with Toronto Raptors when they won their title in 2019, and then with the Lakers for five seasons, including their 2020 championship. Through his tenure, he established himself as a three-time NBA champion and one of the most highly-regarded assistant coaches in the league, working closely with stars like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis.

Now, in a major pivot, the 53-year-old is joining Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 professional women’s basketball league co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.

In Unrivaled, Handy will lead the Mist Club, where he’ll coach Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut Sun), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), Courtney Vandersloot (New York Liberty), Rickea Jackson (Los Angeles Sparks), and Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics). He joins WNBA legend and former Chicago Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon, and four other coaches with extensive player development backgrounds.

The league, which tips off in Miami on January 17th on TNT, is groundbreaking in many ways, including its financial model:

Unrivaled’s total salary pool is above $8 million. With 33 players currently slated to participate, the average salary currently comes in at around $242,000. In comparison, the average WNBA salary is less than half of that figure, despite the WNBA season being more than twice as long. In fact, the average Unrivaled salary is higher than the WNBA supermax, which was $241,984 in 2024. That $8 million figure doesn’t take into account equity or revenue shares, both of which will be added to players’ salaries.

Unrivaled is a major shift from his years of coaching in the NBA. For one, he will be coaching 3-on-3. Needless to say, he’ll be coaching women. And, he’ll be the head coach for the first time in his career.

Handy’s NBA coaching career began with a player development position on the Lakers in 2011, and it ended in 2024 after he decided to take a year away from the most competitive basketball league in the world.

After making that decision, he was approached by Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell — who he’d known for years — about a potential coaching opportunity.

“I’ve been a part of women’s basketball for a long time,” Handy said. “But, once me and my team had a chance to really dive into Unrivaled and really pull back the layers of what they were trying to accomplish, I was really fascinated by the whole concept.”

It just happens to be that Handy has considerable experience with several of his upcoming players on the Mist Club; during his tenure as an assistant coach on the Lakers, he did consulting work with the Storm, a coaching opportunity that allowed him to work directly with Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd, who were both in Seattle at the time.

“Jewell and I have always tried to pick our spots where either she gets to LA for four or five days,” he said. “We do a lot of talking on the phone over the years.”

Handy said one of their collective goals has been improving her efficiency: “Jewell and I have had conversations over the years... how can she continue to be an efficient basketball player, right? Just continuing to improve her handling, her shooting, being able to finish in the paint.”

He’s intrigued by the rest of the roster, too, noting that even a more veteran player like Vandersloot can use Unrivaled as an impactful growth opportunity.

“Sloot has had a great career,” Handy said. “She’s a savvy vet, but even vets can learn new tricks.”

Handy said he wants to follow the players’ leads when it comes to their individual growth; regardless of which areas of their game a player wants to improve, Handy wants to play a support role in that pursuit.

“When I start to work with players, I don’t try to put them in the box — I want to try to get an idea of where they want to improve,” Handy said.

The Mist roster is an illustrious one; it includes last year’s Most Improved Player in Carrington, a two-time MVP in Stewart, and the 2023 WNBA’s top scorer in Loyd. It also boasts younger talent like Jackson and Edwards, both of whom are fresh off of effective rookie seasons. And, Vandersloot is third on the WNBA’s all-time career assists list and is a two-time WNBA champion.

Breanna Stewart is the Mist’s official captain; the three-time WNBA champion, fresh off of a title with the Liberty, will be a helpful resource as Handy gets his feet wet. He noted that he and the players will all be “pulling in the same direction” — and collaboration has always been his approach when it comes to coaching.

“I’m a coach who believes in learning from your athletes and collaborating with them,” he said. “What have you all experienced? What do you see? What do you feel?”

Despite the talent and combined accolades on Handy’s Mist squad, he’s not feeling any pressure.

“Look, I’ve coached in Los Angeles for the last six years,” Handy said. “There’s no bigger place — being a part of the Lakers organization — for pressure. The only way you feel pressure is if you’re not prepared. For me as a coach, [I] will be very prepared, and my coaching staff will be prepared.”

So for Handy, what began as a year away from the NBA turned into a potentially massive opportunity with a brand-new league that aims to shake up the women’s sports landscape. Now, rather than working with LeBron James and the Lakers, he’ll be working with some of the biggest stars in women’s basketball.

“I always say timing is everything,” Handy said. “I’ve been a big fan of the W and women’s basketball, so this was a great opportunity for me to step in with both feet and get a little bit more activated with women’s basketball at the highest level.”